the return home
by kingalex1234
Summary: when Alex finally achieves his goal and returns home, he's excited to reunite with his family. but when the leaders, one by one, join him, he'll find he has a bigger challenge than the pikmin world has ever presented, and much less help
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Prologue

I woke up with a foggy memory. Ugg…where am I? Ok, basics. My name is Alex…I'm 15? Yes, 15 years old…pikmin… I opened my eyes and found myself in a metal room. Ok, whose ship was I on now? The room seemed square, in fact, I was sure I had seen something like it before. Hang on…there was no movement. I sat up and immediately fell back again. I wasn't dizzy, the bed was just so soft! A man came into the room "I see your awake, Alex" he said. How did he know my name? And what was that uniform he was wearing? It seemed familiar… "How do you know me?" I asked. He chuckled "memory loss, huh? Well, I think there's a girl who wants to see you that might change that" he said, then he walked away. What girl would I remember? Was it Lilly? No, she had disappeared long ago. So who would I remember? "You're awake!" I didn't have a chance to look at the girl before she hugged me "I missed you so much Alex!" wait, she missed me? "Uh…I missed you too?" I said, not actually remembering who she was but hoping she would tell me "you don't remember me?" she asked, stepping back. She had long hair, as brown as mine, and brown eyes, just like mine…she was pretty much identical to me except she was taller and she was a girl. "I'm sorry, I don't, whose ship am I on?" "Ship?" she asked "oh, you're not in a ship, you're in a hospital" she said "hospital?" I asked "wow, you really don't remember anything" she said "you still haven't told me who you are" I said "oh, I'm May…your sister" my sister…wait a second, I wasn't on a ship, I wasn't anywhere near where I thought I was. No, better, I was finally where I wanted to be, I was home!

**Well, it's a start. This is my first story that doesn't have a guide line, so I might not do as well, but I also might do better, I don't know. As always I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 1: flame meets humans

Ok, I know many of you reading are confused as to why I'm 15 when I was WAY older before. Apparently, I didn't actually age during my adventure. My machine gets its energy from the person holding it. When it gets power, it teleports itself and whatever is holding it. If it gets an external power surge, it will separate from the subjects, and possibly separate the subjects from each other. When the lightning struck, it activated a hidden feature I didn't know about: the ability to time travel. I couldn't figure out how to reactivate this feature, but it has a side effect: you don't age in that time frame. Of course, you also have a specific timeframe before your transported back…if you teleported with the device. But that's another story, the day after a reunited was a Monday. I had pressed return to origin, but it had malfunctioned and fell short. Instead of taking me to the second week of summer, it took me to two weeks before summer ends, and I went into a coma from energy loss. It was the last week of summer vacation, and it was Monday now. The doctors called saying someone was looking for me, so I went there straight away. I was lead to a room that had a higher heat than normal, in fact, I was sweating just standing there. "He has a high fever, and won't let anyone go near him. He's too hot to touch and he freaks out if you go near him with gloves. He refuses to eat and freaks out if you bring water close to him. Good luck waking him." The nurse said as I approached him. The nurse was still talking, but I wasn't listening. There was a boy, about my age. He had green hair with red tips, and a red suit that seemed fire resistant. His skin was too hot for me to touch, so I gently shook his arm. "Huh?" the boy said groggily, as he opened his eyes. I recognized the voice as Flame, and realized my machine had worked. "Welcome back to the world of the living" I said jokingly. "You came! I was worried I wouldn't be able to escape this weird place!" he said. He started coughing, but I knew he wasn't sick. I got a glass of water "here Flame" I said, bringing it closer "you kidding? I'll drown!" he said. Well, at least he wasn't freaking out "maybe as a pikmin, but as a human you need this to survive, now drink" I said. He looked at me skeptically, then hesitantly took the cup. After a second, he took a sip. He looked at the water, and then he chugged the rest of the glass. I chuckled "bring a pitcher please, I have a feeling he'll want a lot" I said. A nurse brought a pitcher and Flame drunk to his content. I couldn't get him to eat beef, so I got him soup instead. Soon enough, his temperature had dropped to a normal fever, and the nurse confirmed it "he should still stay until his fever clears" the nurse said "his fever wont clear, this is normal for him" I said, trying to help Flame get used to his new body. I had to convince him to look at himself before he would drink, but it wasn't hard to convince him once he realized he was human. "But his temperature is at 104! That could give him heat stroke!" the nurse said "Flame has a higher than average body temperature, and he's probably still a bit sick. I'd say he's about…99 based on normal" I said. "Fine, but he needs a place to stay" the nurse said. After a bit of convincing, my dad said he and the other former pikmin could stay with us, as long as there were only 7 right now, which there were. When Flame stepped outside, he immediately started complaining that he was cold, even though it was 90 degrees out. I told him he'd need to get used to it and we went home. He could feel the heat coming from the stove, and immediately went over. I meanwhile got to work trying to make sleep wear that he would be comfortable in. May tried everything I made on, but said the material was too scratchy, anything comfortable was too short. I finally made a full red suit out of wool, and May said it was perfect, but when we got Flame, he said it was too soft. "What do you mean too soft?" may asked "how can something be too soft?" "Relax, you have to remember he's new to being human" I said "you don't like softness?" I asked him "no, it feels weird" Flame said. I handed him one of the others, but he had the same complaint May did. "You sure you won't wear the wool?" I asked him "why don't I just wear this?" he asked back. He had a point, but it would become filthy. "Hmm…Alex, you could make a more comfortable suit for sleeping with this material, couldn't you?" May asked. She was right, I could. After trying to find just the right material, Flame put it on and said it was perfect. We then went to have dinner. "Steak for you and May, and soup for Flame, since he's not used to teeth yet" mom said as she put down some food (I won't say my mom's name right now, maybe latter). We started eating, but after one spoonful, Flame said he didn't want any "you have to eat Flame, you don't have photosynthesis anymore" mom said "it's too cold" Flame replied. I guess mom had thought he would want something to cool his fever. She heated it up, and I realized how bad Flames table manners were when he ended up with half of it on his shirt (I had made a separate shirt and pants so he could put it on easier). Me and May couldn't help laughing as my mom took Flame to clean up, maybe we'd try mashed potatoes for the others, at least only their faces would need washing with that. "Ok, bed time!" mom said when Flame came out. I hadn't noticed before how tiered Flame looked, I guess it was because he was usually in bed by now. I showed him his bed, and after failing to convince him to sleep in it, ended up with him on the floor. I took the bottom bunk instead (there were 4 bunk beds, enough for me and the 7 pikmin). "Good night Flame" I said, but I knew he was already asleep. I rolled over and fell asleep quickly, glad to finally be home.

**And that's some of Flame! Each pikmin will be in a similar fashion, clumsy and uncivilized. The series is going to describe how each pikmin learns to adapt to each environment, this story is school based. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I love input. Thanks for reading, bye for now!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 2: daisy's awakening

Flame had cooled down by the time we were finished eating breakfast, and he once again made a mess. It probably wasn't the best choice to give him cereal, I have got to strengthen his teeth...anyways. We got another call from the doctor saying someone wanted to see me, so I went with Flame. You can probably guess who it was, but I won't say just yet. When we got there, I saw a girl with green hair on the top, and long blond hair from eye level down. She was wearing a yellow suit that matched Flames, but she seemed more comfortable. "This girl is just like Flame was yesterday, except instead of heat she seems to be charged, not sure why. The room was normal, though something was making my hair stick on end, and Flame refused to come inside. I went to shake her arm, and got shocked, making me yelp in surprise, and that woke her up. "Huh?" she said sleepily. From the voice, it was defiantly Daisy "oh, hi Alex" she said. The heat from Flame was expected, but the shock wasn't, I guess it's because she's not used to the body yet "god, have you always been charged?" I asked her "I think so, it's just been easier to control before" she replied. I brought the water over "you need to drink Daisy" I said "you kidding? I'll drown!" she replied. I sighed, figuring this would be a problem with all the former pikmin. I brought a mirror to her and she gasped as she saw her face "your human now, you need water to live" I said. She immediately grabbed the cup and took a sip, then started chugging it like Flame did. The doctors were already bringing in soup and a pitcher of water. After I convinced her to eat and drink, she was stable enough for me to help her up, and help her get used to her new form. She was much less clumsy than Flame had been, but she also had a harder time centering herself, probably because of her lighter weight. We went outside, and Flame saw Daisy. "Daisy!" he said, running up to her. He tripped about half way, and fell "oh my gosh! Are you ok?" Daisy said as she tried to run, and immediately lost her footing. Luckily I caught her, and May was already helping Flame up. "Well, your new friends are defiantly fun" a boy said. I turned and saw a boy who was a bit taller than me, but had most of the same features. As it turns out, I have five siblings. Two brothers, one older one younger; and three sisters, one older, one younger, and one twin. This was my older brother, Brian. When we got home, Daisy went to the TV and Flame went to help mom cook again. I guess each of them has a specific element they like, and is drawn towards that element. I started trying to make sleep wear for Daisy, with Bryan trying them on, while May tried to figure out more about my machine. Now might be a good time to tell you all my siblings are really talented. My brothers are good with technology, and my sisters are good with science, I excel at both. "You wrote that your body seemed not to age, are you sure that's right?" she asked "considering I went back at time, I would hope so" I replied a bit sarcastically, still trying to get one of my shirts around Bryan. Daisy had a smaller body than Flame, and its possible I overcompensated for it "well, if both are true, it's possible your machine had temporary side effects" she said "really?" I asked as I decided to get a different shirt "yea, one of them being your age, you only aged to match the time displacement" she replied. Before I could say anything, I heard static and the lights flickered. When I went upstairs, I saw the lights flickering rapidly. "I can explain Alex!" Daisy said "the TV wouldn't work, so I turned on the lights, and they suddenly did this!" as it turns out, Daisy had a sort of electromagnetic field around her, just like Flame generated extra heat. "We should get that under control" I said, giving her the clothes we decided on "in the meantime, put these on" I said. She started putting them on over her clothes "take those off first" I said, trying not to laugh. She looked at me confused, then started taking off her shirt right there. May had to convince her to go to another room. I guess the fact that I had brought Flame downstairs prevented him from making that mistake, but I had forgotten they didn't know about privacy yet. Daisy came up with May as dinner was being served, this time it was mashed potatoes for both of them. They both ate sloppily, and somehow they still ended up with half of it on their shirt. May helped Daisy and mom helped Flame get cleaned up before bed. I could already tell these two would take a while to get used to the human world, and then I had to think about the others. Some of the abilities the others have are physically based, and they could really hurt themselves if they believed they still had it. In fact, they all could hurt themselves if I wasn't carefully watching them. May had convinced Flame to sleep on the bed after Flame had complained about a sore back, and Daisy was all for sleeping on the top bunk immediately, and she seemed to like soft feeling more. I took the bottom of another bunk. "Good night you two" I said. They didn't respond as they had fallen asleep already. I figured this would probably be the case for all of the pikmin until they get used to the basic functions of the human body, then I could see what they were really made of. But for now, all I wanted was sleep.

**Well, that's the opening to Daisy. The first seven chapters are going to be how each former pikmin reacts to being human, and it will show a general concept of how much they need to adjust. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I love input. Bye for now!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 3: Aqua's morning

I was used to sudden awakenings by now, I can't tell you how many times a ship jolted and woke me up, but waking up to a sudden burst of light, followed shortly by a startled yelp and a thump, is not something you want. I sleepily looked over and saw Daisy on the floor. She must have been startled and fallen off the bed. In fact, she probably turned the light on by accident. Once we made sure she was ok, I let her and Flame get dressed, then we went for breakfast. "Ok, I made eggs for Flame and grits for Daisy, if the eggs are too tough for you let me know" mom said, serving them. She gave me a muffin like usual. Daisy once again made a mess, though I don't think there's a way to avoid it, but all Flame did was get grease on his clothes from wiping his hands, and May was able to quickly get it out. I should probably teach them about utensils once they could eat all foods. After we were done with breakfast, the Doctors called saying someone wanted to see me again. When we got there, they led me to a room that was cool and moist, neither Daisy nor Flame would go in though. "This one was different from the rest. She seems to have cold sweats, but we can touch her. She doesn't freak out when we offer her water, and we actually had to stop her from drinking so she wouldn't drown herself." The girl's hair was like Daisy's, except eye level down was brown and it was wavy. Instead of a suit, she was wearing a blue dress. Based on Daisy and Flames descriptions, I figured this was Aqua. I felt her arm, and it was moist and cool, even more so than the air. I lightly shook her and her eyes fluttered open. Daisy and Flame both had matching brown eyes, but Aqua's eyes were a bright blue "huh?" she said sleepily. "Morning sleepy head" I said. She immediately jumped up and hugged me, then she fell back onto the bed. I had to admit, she looked really pretty, not that I was in love with her or anything…anyways. "You should take it easy Aqua, you're not used to your body yet" I said "my body?" she asked, confused. I had forgotten that blue pikmin love water, and had thought she had figured out she was human, but I guess not. She looked at herself "whoa" she said, surprised. I was able to get her to eat pretty easily after that, and after she stopped sweating, I helped her get used to her new body. After my dad convinced the nurse to let her come home with us, we went outside. "Aqua!" Flame was the first to notice her. This time when he ran up to her, he only stumbled a bit as he hugged her. "Hi to you too Flame" she said, giggling. Daisy hugged her, taking a much slower pace, after Flame had let go. When we got home, Daisy was able to turn on the TV without breaking the remote, Flame went to help my mom again, and Aqua saw our pool, and immediately ran into the glass door. After May finished laughing, she opened the door and Aqua jumped in, fully clothed. That's when I noticed her dress doubled as swim wear, and actually helped her glide through the water. After watching her for a bit, I went down stairs to make her sleep wear. It took me a bit to figure it out, but I found out that each of the pikmin's abilities never actually left them when they changed to human form. The reason each of the three had something different about them is because the body was trying to harness the energy, and doing a bad job at that. When she came in, her clothes were as dry as before, it was as if she had never gone swimming! Then I handed her the clothes "put this on" I said. After saying it, I expected to go through the same thing I did with Daisy, but instead of putting the clothes over the dress, she walked into the bathroom. A few minutes later, she came out in her sleepwear "wow, this is SUPPER comfy!" she said. Huh, she already seemed more human than the others. While her teeth were still too weak to eat anything tough, she had no problem keeping most of the mashed potatoes off her clothes, she even used the spoon my mom had put there, though she had a hard time keeping it steady. Aqua seemed the most adapted, though I wasn't at all sure why. She did seem more human to me before, maybe it has something to do with how her mind formed. Trying to figure this out on only a little bit of observation was infuriating though, so I tried to shake the thought off. Aqua would not stop drinking though, I guess as a pikmin she had lots of water all the time, so she still wanted a lot. After a bit I had to stop her so she wouldn't drink too much. The others started playing tag, and unfortunately they weren't used to the human body and they kept knocking over things and tripping, which wasn't good. Flame was pretty easy to catch, but Daisy had the agility of a cat, and May was doing more damage than the two of them had trying to catch her. Luckily Daisy was less used to her body than Flame was, and she tripped, which allowed May to pin her down. "I think its bed time now" May said, panting. Aqua was more than happy to get into the bottom bunk of the next bed, and I ended up at the top. "Good night you guys" I said. Unlike the past few nights, I got a "good night" back from Aqua, who then quickly fell asleep. I figured I'd need my rest for dealing with tomorrow.

**I forgot to put this up, I'm really sorry! This is before the last chapter because I forgot to put it, I usually don't, again, really sorry!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 4: muscles restraints

Aqua woke me up with cold water, probably not thinking about how I would feel. I heard giggling as I shot up "morning sleepy head!" she said, in the same tone I had said it to her. They were pretty much 5 year olds in 15 year old bodies. "Good morning" I said sleepily. They were all dressed already, so I shooed them out while I changed. Flame was able to eat a hardboiled egg, so the mess for him was a minimum, but Daisy had to eat a softer form and ended up with grease all over herself, and May had to help her clean. Aqua managed to make almost no mess with her cereal…until Flame knocked it over trying to get the salt. Aqua just sighed and went to the bathroom to clean up. Flame and Daisy were a bit calmer than Aqua, but with all three of them it was like having children, and my parents could confirm it. May and Bryan had to distract them by playing tag outside for a bit, then I got a call from the hospital. Once again someone wanted to see me, but this time there was a sense of urgency in the nurses' voice. After calming down the trio, we went to the hospital. They led me to a room that was normal this time, but I knew something was up when the trio wouldn't enter, though that might have been due to the fact that Aqua took off down the hall way as soon as we got to the room. My guess was the doctors would be busy with them for a bit. When I went inside, I saw a boy. The boy had green hair that was brown at the tips, and was wearing a purple tank top with purple basket ball shorts. He looked really muscular, and he was already awake, and restrained. "Oh, hi Alex" he said. His speech was slurred slightly "he didn't want to be here, and we had to sedate him several times. He's restrained and drugged so that he's calm. He refuses to eat or drink, and we can't get near him without him hitting one of us." The nurse said. I knew it was Muscles (Wieghter's more sensible name), so I approached cautiously. "Hey Muscles" I said "you don't have to be so cautious, you know I wouldn't hurt you on purpose" he said. That was a relief "have you looked at yourself?" I asked. He nodded "I think whatever the doctors put into me has me hallucinating" he said. I looked at the nurse and she shook her head "we thought it would make him more violent, so we used morphine to dull his senses, it had a different effect than we intended" she said. After a bit of convincing, he believed he wasn't hallucinating and happily took the water and ate, though he complained about it being too hot several times. Because of his muscle mass, he was way heavier than the others, and I couldn't support him very well, luckily I didn't have to. Once the drugs wore off, and I helped him get used to his body, we went outside. Aqua had barely grown accustomed to her body, and she tumbled right into us, followed shortly by Daisy and Flame "sorry Alex!" they said in unison. I brushed it off and we went home. It was easy to make Muscles sleep wear, and after a bit of running around, they all got changed. Muscles could eat steak immediately, and did so happily while the others had more tender foods. After dinner, Muscles went to find my dad's weight set and trained with my dad, who was way more comfortable with him after that. Actually, my dad seemed to like Muscles the best, though I had no clue why. Aqua was the first to discover the shower, and it took me a bit to explain how it worked, then I had to explain about the privacy of showering when she started getting undressed in front of me. Because she didn't know how to use it, May had to help her for the first few minutes, then decided to just let her take a bath instead. Daisy was flipping through the channels with Bryan helping her, and Flame had my mom start teaching him how to cook, so I went to research my machine some more. I found out that it used technology similar to some that someone else had shown me, but I couldn't figure out who had shown me the technology, and I dismissed it. I remembered that I had chosen every pikmin leader, but the machines feedback said only 7 made it, but there were some still pending, that meant there was a possibility that I would have to deal with more former pikmin, but for now I only had 7, and I had discovered 4. That meant there were still 3 more trips to the hospital, and 3 more days until school started. School! How could I forget about school? It would be impossible to get the pikmin used to school, they weren't used to home life yet! How was I going to get them prepared for school if they're not used to being at home? "You're supposed to put your clothes back on after Aqua!" I heard May shout from across the house. Yea, I had a feeling school would be really hard for them to adjust to. Aqua already seemed pretty well mannered, though she did have a few other things she had to learn. Flame and Daisy were another story, and Muscles was still with my dad. I yawned, more than ready for bed after dealing with the former pikmin all day. It was Thursday and school started Monday…did my parents pack my supplies already? I guess I'd have to find out latter. It's not like I couldn't get supplies if I needed it anyways. Muscles took the bottom bunk on another bed, he felt it was safer. I yawned as I climbed above Aqua. I didn't bother saying goodnight as I knew the others had fallen asleep, much like I did moments later.

**Another introduction done! I thought up a better name for the purple leader, so I put that in instead, that's why his name is different. Each pikmin's personality isn't going to show a whole lot in their introduction chapters, but in latter chapters it will. I decided to give Aqua a personality to make her more humorous, it also shows a more human personality in her. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. This chapter is updated earlier than normal because its early release, so I got out of school early. Bye for now!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 5: toxic cloud

I woke up to cold water and giggling again. "Morning Alex!" Aqua said. I rubbed my eyes "usually people don't like being woken up to cold water" I said sleepily "I know, that's what makes it fun!" Aqua said, running off with Daisy and Flame close behind her. Muscles had already gone off somewhere, so I got changed. Upstairs was a mess when I got there, apparently Aqua had gotten used to her body and wanted to try a few things…may was currently chasing her, trying to get back her hairbrush. Flame and Daisy were sitting at the table laughing, and Muscles had probably gone to lift weights again. Anyone who heard about my adventures knows that Aqua was my favorite, unfortunately I didn't see her more playful side, which was really disruptive. Aqua tripped, still not used to the body, and May got her dress back. "I thought I was done with this last year!" May complained, before stomping to her room. All Aqua could do was giggle. I sighed, figuring they wouldn't cause too much more trouble, and then the phone rang. It was the hospital saying someone wanted to see me again. I took the 4 former pikmin with me, they were causing WAY too much trouble at home, and I was lead to a room. The room had an odd smell, and none of the others wanted to come in, though that might have been due to the fact that Aqua had taken off in a game of tag. I sighed, and looked at the girl. She had green hair to eye level, and it was brown below that. She had a white suit on that had a hood on the top. "She freaks out whenever we bring water near her, and she refuses to eat anything. Her skin seems fine, so we think she's ok." The nurse said. I walked up to the girl, who I assumed was Toxic (that was her name, not a description), and gently shook her arm. She slowly opened her eyes "huh?" she said "oh, hi Alex" "hey Toxic" I said "I heard you wouldn't drink" I said "you kidding? I'll drown!" she said sleepily. I was used to this by now, and I just showed her a reflection in the mirror "whoa" she said "humans need water, Toxic, your human now" I said. She nodded and took a sip, then she chugged it, just like the others had. After a while, and after she ate, I was able to get her up, then I helped her get used to her body. Once she was used to it, I convinced my dad to let her stay with us, then we went outside. None of the others were used to their bodies yet, but they were playing in the field regardless. Muscles was the first to notice Toxic "Toxic!" he said. Then they all tumbled on top of each other trying to get to her. I couldn't help laughing at the 4 of them as they tried to regain their footing. We got home, and Toxic went with Daisy to the TV while the others went to their normal places, which included Aqua swimming. I suppose it was a good thing Aqua loved swimming, because it meant she couldn't cause any trouble. It wasn't easy making something suitable for Toxic to sleep in, and I ended up making her a Tee-shirt and shorts, with a jacket and leggings that were attachable. I was really worried about school, and how they would react. They weren't used to the human world, and they would probably be fine in the first week, but after that I'd have trouble with them. There was no way to determine how they would react to being in a class room, especially when they were a bunch of grade levels behind. If you need a visual, this is what I thought of: a kindergartener being in a 10th grade class. There was no way I could pull that off…at least not easily. I still had 2 days, so my thoughts drifted to Toxic. Besides the suit, she wasn't showing any signs of her abilities. Of course, there's no poison nearby, sense poison kills things, but wouldn't she have shown something? Actually, Toxic should have shown the biggest sign of difference, sense whites are not only poison resistant, but also poisonous themselves. Man, it was exhausting dealing with these guys, and there were still 2 more that hadn't wakened up yet. I went upstairs and found Toxic sitting on Zack, my younger brother. "Get off me!" Zack said "give me back my bow!" Toxic retorted. Her bow? "Toxic! You don't sit on people!" I said "I'll get up when he gives my hair bow back!" she replied. My guess was Daisy gave her a hair bow, and Zack had taken it when he saw it, trying to mess around. "Fine, you can have it!" he threw the hair bow at the wall, and Toxic went to pick it up. Zack quickly got up and ran to his room, probably not wanting to get hurt again. I rolled my eyes "why don't you go get changed, toxic?" I told her. She went downstairs and changed, the others did after her. Flame was able to eat tender chicken now, but Daisy still wasn't able to. Toxic made a mess, just like all the others, and May helped all of them clean up. Aqua was the only one who hadn't changed, and she went to take a bath right after dinner. I yawned, it was a long day, and there was more ahead. Toxic took the bunk above Muscles when they went to sleep. I laid in bed thinking about how each of them would act around others. My main concern was one of them was going to get someone angry, and that would cause a lot of trouble. I sighed, anticipated the worse, as I drifted to sleep.

**Another one done! There's not really anything for me to say, so thanks for reading! Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 6: rocky road

I woke up before the others this time, and I got dressed before they got up. I heard Aqua get up from the bed below me, and I heard the pitter-pater of her footsteps running up the stairs. When she came back, she had a bucket of water. She obviously knew I was awake, because without looking at me, she climbed to where Daisy was sleeping and splashed her. Daisy gave a yelp of surprise that woke up the others…or maybe it was the lights suddenly coming on. I had to blink several times to get used to the light, and then I had to help Aqua, who had lost her balance and fallen. After everyone had gotten dressed, we went upstairs for breakfast. Toxic was really messy, and it didn't help that she couldn't sit still half the time, but May helped her clean up afterwards. After breakfast, the hospital called saying someone wanted me again, and I went over there with the 5 former pikmin. The nurse led me to a room that the others wouldn't go into again, but it had a boy in it. The boy had green hair, with black tips. He was wearing a tee-shirt and pants that were black. I also noticed he wasn't moving at all. "He seems to become completely still when he's asleep, and he's pretty calm when he's awake as well. His skin is hard and rough, and he refuses to drink or eat, though he doesn't freak out about either." The nurse said. I walked up to the bed and gently shook the boy, who was named rocky, arm. He woke up and I saw his chest start to move. This boy, like aqua, didn't have brown eyes. Instead, his eyes were black. "Oh, hey Alex" Rocky said "hi Rocky" I said back. I brought over a cup to him "you should drink" I said "but I'll drown if I do" he said, surprisingly calm. "Have you looked at yourself?" I asked him. He shook his head, and I showed him his reflection "whoa, I'm human?" he asked "yep" I replied. He drank the whole glass without question after he realized he was human, and he ate with the same attitude. After I helped him get used to his body, we went outside and the others ended up tripping over each other trying to great him, quite literally, actually. We went back to the house, and they went off. Flame went to help mom cook, Daisy went to watch TV, Aqua went swimming, Muscles went to lift weights, and Toxic took Rocky outside. I heard a splash, and I saw Bryan in the water with Aqua. May had gone outside to play with Toxic and Rocky, and Zack had come besides Daisy after a while. After I helped my dad move another bunk bed into the room, he went off to be with Muscles. I was surprised the family was so accepting of the former pikmin, especially the youngest ones. After I was done making rocky sleep wear, I heard something shatter. I ran upstairs and saw that my younger sister, Sarah, had shown the others my Nerf guns, but they weren't aiming, so they were hitting everything. I got them to stop, and I told the former pikmin to get dressed for dinner. Dinner was really messy for Rocky, and the fact that the others still didn't know how to use manners, except for Aqua, didn't help at all. After they got cleaned up, Daisy accidentally hit Flame "what was that for?" he asked in surprise "I didn't mean to hit you!" Daisy said "and you call me reckless?" he shot back "I'm not the one who almost crashed the onion!" she retorted "I told you the thing malfunctioned!" Flame said angrily "so did mine, but I kept it stable!" Daisy shot back. I could see Flame turning red, and Daisy was practically sparking in anger "you know that's not my fault!" Flame said "of course it's not, nothing ever is!" Daisy said sarcastically "what's that supposed to mean?" it means your careless!" "I'm careless?" "Yes! You always are!" "And who's the one who got half her pikmin killed?" "You could have killed us all!" they were getting louder, and I was afraid their bodies wouldn't be able to handle the adrenaline that was obviously kicking in. the others were watching interested "AT LEAST I CARE ABOUT THE PIKMIN!" Flame yelled "I DO TOO!" Daisy yelled back "YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT HALF OF THEM!" Flame shot back "I'M NOT THE ONE WHO WANTED TO LEAVE THEM!" she screamed "YOU WANA GO SUNSHINE?" he yelled "MAKE MY DAY!" she retorted. Flame launched at her, knocking them both down. The others watched with increasing interest as the two rolled back and forth around the kitchen. They were locked together, and I had no idea what to do. There was no telling what the two could do, but how could I separate them? After a bit, my dad came in and intervened "hey!" he yelled. The two fighters stopped in surprise, allowing Aqua to pull flame back, and Rocky to hold Daisy "what is with you two?" my dad asked, saying out loud what I was thinking. None of the former pikmin should have had problems with each other, they actually should have immediately stopped fighting because of lack of balance, so why didn't they? I had a strange feeling there was something going on in the former pikmin that none of us knew about, maybe it was a side effect of my machine, it could be that they weren't used to their body's yet, but maybe something else was effecting them, something I didn't know was there. There was no way I could figure it out, so I had to try to eliminate other possibilities instead. There was still one more day before school, so they had another day to get oriented, but there was also one more person missing, and that would be hard to deal with. But for now, I wanted to sleep, and we all went to bed. I had no idea what laid ahead, but I knew it would be challenging.

**Another chapter done! I finally got my internet fixed, so I'll be updating more frequently again, yay! As always, remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 7: Ariel fight

I woke up to the sound of something crashing, followed by a surprise yelp from Daisy and the lights turning on. I then heard yelps of surprise from the other 4 former pikmin, and the crash of Toxic falling out of bed. I got up and saw Rocky stumbling over "turns out you can't open doors by smashing into them" he said. I couldn't help a small laugh at that. After we all got dressed, we went up for breakfast. Rocky was really messy, just like the others were, and May helped him clean up. After breakfast, I got another call from the hospital saying someone wanted to see me, and this time Clara, my older sister, decided to take us. The nurse led us to a room, and the others went to play tag, refusing to go in. in the room was a girl. She had green hair that was brown below eye level, and she was wearing a short pink dress. She pretty much looked like Toxic with different clothing, except for one thing. All the boys have hair that doesn't reach past their fore heads, the girls had hair to their waist, this girl, who was Ariel, had hair only down to her cheeks. Also, Ariel was restrained, even though she was supposed to be the weakest one. "Whenever she's awake, she seems to want to move. When she first woke up, it seemed like she was trying to fly. She's very resistant, and we had to put a restraint on her so she would stay still. She freaks out around water, and refuses to eat." The nurse said. I walked up and gently shook her arm, undoing the restraints after. Her eyes fluttered open, and she immediately tried to get up, but I held her down. She looked at me, and stopped struggling "oh, hi Alex!" she said, the note of excitement obvious in her voice "hi Ariel" I replied. I then brought water over to her "you should drink, you'll need it" I said "but I'll drown!" she replied. I was already used to it, so I just showed her the mirror "whoa! She said, then she took the glass from me and chugged it. After she ate and drank, I helped her get used to her body. Her balance was off at first, but she quickly learned how to balance herself. After she was balanced, we went outside. Rocky was the first to notice her "Ariel!" he said, before rolling into her. I barely got out of the way before they hit me. We went home, and the former pikmin went to their usual places, with Ariel going to the tree house outside. I made her sleepwear short, so that she would feel more free, then I looked at my machine. The pikmin were playful, but they were troublesome too, especially Aqua. I wanted to know why and whether there was a solution. School would start soon, and if I couldn't get them straightened out then they would be in trouble, especially since my school is stricter than most. That reminds me, I should explain my school system. My school is not normal, not in a long shot. At the end of the year, we take a test to see how much we know. Depending on what parts we pass, we either get core classes or we don't. If we pass enough of the test, we get a physical test for our abilities, which determines what elective classes we get. If we pass enough of that test, we get to choose our own electives. Our school is heavily power based, so blackouts take twice as long to repair, and happen more frequently. The first week goes through the weekends, and the second week is off. After the second week, the schedule returns to normal. The reason the first week includes weekend school is because every day there's a single class taken, since the classes are so complicated. After the second week, school is normal. The school is also really strict, any bad behavior and you would get a detention, suspension, and possibly expulsion, but they also don't pay attention during lunch. Anyways, I was looking at my machines log to see if it had an unintended effect on the former pikmin. Here is what the log said "test day: jolt of power auto activated, teleported subject to unknown location, self teleported unknown distance away. 5 days after test: no subject to activate, going into stasis. Awakening day: subject recovered, initiating upgrade. Day after awakening: subject energy active, transporting subject and … others." I paused there. It didn't know how many others were transported, that meant there could be countless more people I had to train. I continued reading the log "transport successful, accessing status… Alex: subject of transportation, reversed aged, reverted to original size and age, no abnormalities. Flame: subject accomplice, turned human permanently, copied age from subject, mentality of child, abnormality in temperature. Daisy: subject accomplice, turned human permanently, age copied from subject, mentality of child, abnormality in charge. Aqua: subject accomplice, turned human permanently, age copied from subject, mentality of child, abnormality in fluids. Muscles: subjejejeje- kertzzzz…malfunction occurred, log unkempt" well…that didn't seem good "hours after error: subject and 7 accomplices successfully converted, remaining status unknown. Worm hole malfunction occurred, subject and accomplices have jumped 68 days from origin. Abnormalities in accomplice's brain, control unstable. Current day: transportation memory wiped, log viewed from day of activation, no new abnormalities, one new signal. End of current log" one new signal? I remembered there was a variation factor I had put in just in case something happened, but I don't think that was it. I'd defiantly have to figure out what cut off the log, it may have had something important. Just then, the others came tumbling downstairs in one big giggling group. I yawned and got them into bed, climbing into my bed as well. I laid in bed trying to think of what could have happened. I needed answers, and I was the only one who could have them…or was I? No, I wasn't, but could I actually reach the person who had them? I'd find out soon enough, if he still trusted me…

**Another chapter done! I got a bit more in depth to my machine in this chapter, it connects this story to my previous (and unfinished) series. Because my character is supposed to be more intelligent, I made a school that has a different teaching style, it's also so that I can develop the former pikmin's abilities a bit. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 8: visiting a star

I woke up with the sun rising. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a few times. Back to school was my first thought, then I realized I could see the sun…heck, I could see the sky! I jumped up and saw I was in a meadow. "Cool, a lucid dream! Haven't had one of those since I used the machine!" I said. I looked around to see trees surrounding the border. They were spread out just enough to get through, but only enough. Wait…this was a lucid dream… I thought about a giant water slide, but nothing happened. Huh…guess they don't work like that all the time… then I felt something tug at my pants leg. I looked down and saw a small, dim, colorless light, which was flickering slowly. I kneeled down to get a better look…and I saw a pikmin! "Welcome back Alex" it said "hi, Star" I said with a smile. Looking closely, I saw that his onion had landed a little bit away from where I had fallen asleep. I must have dismissed it as a flower by accident. "I never realized how small you guys were" I said "that's not important right now, what's on your mind?" Star asked. He was a dream pikmin, and they were telepathic, so I knew he knew something was wrong "where's Starlet?" I asked "she's nearby, but she only talks about people specifically, and you're avoiding the question" he said. He was defiantly to the point "well, my machine malfunctioned and lost a good chunk of its log, do you think you could help me with it?" I asked him "you want to know the source of the malfunction, don't you?" he replied. I nodded "well, the machine was a proto type, if you remember, so it had a lot of bugs" he said "yes, but I had perfected the log to make sure I could write down any problems" I replied "well, the machine might have been overpowered" he replied "what do you mean?" I asked, worried that something could have messed with my technology "the pikmin have been showing different behavior than before, correct?" he said. Again, I just nodded "well, your machine should have copied your personality, if it didn't at first, it would have corrected its mistake…unless it didn't know it made one" he said "so your saying something cut off the log?" I asked. He nodded "I can only tell you so much before I break the dream rules, but I can tell you that your machine isn't normal" he said "dream rules?" I asked "long story for another day" he replied "well, could you elaborate? About the machine, not the rules" I said "well, you made your machine to transport objects touching it, right?" he asked. I nodded "if you messed with the machine before using it, then it's possible you did something unintended, especially if you didn't test the machine first" he said. I thought back to the day I left. The pikmin were sad to see me go, and I was sad to see them leave, but they had to take off. Before they left, they asked if they could come with me. I had a few parts left from something I couldn't remember, and I decided to modify the transporter. I opened it to multiple targets, and I allowed it to convert targets into humans. I was unable to do an analysis, and tests were useless if I had nowhere to transport to. "What are the possibilities?" I asked fearfully "one possibility is the machine worked perfectly normal, and the log was just lost. Another possibility is the machine malfunction from water damage, and the pikmin ended up with modified personalities. Neither one is very likely though. Another possibility is you changed something that made it unstable, again, not likely or you wouldn't be here." He stopped "what's the most likely possibility?" I asked "the last possibility is you confused the machine, and it locked on to an unknown target. Not knowing what target it locked on to, it shorted out. The malfunction would have taken a bit to take effect, but once it took effect, it would go crazy. I think I can explain what happened, if you're willing to listen" I nodded "when you activated the machine, there was a target close to another being that you didn't know about. The machine locked on to both targets, but only transported the one you wanted. With the second target still in the system, it would have become confused, and malfunctioned. That's what shorted out the log. Without the review log, the machine couldn't figure out what happened to the unknown target, and it shorted out, creating the time jump. Disoriented, the machine altered the personalities of the 7 targets it brought, 3 of which were awake, and left the remaining targets pending. Without the log, it doesn't know if all the targets made it, and it doesn't know how many there are. It will continue trying to transport all its targets until all of them are in, and any modifications to the machine could hurt any previous targets, including yourself. The logs are accessible, but changing anything else could kill you and all the former pikmin." He finished and looked at me. Wow, so I had to reactivate it for the others to come through. I didn't want more people right now though, so I wouldn't touch it. "you can leave the others pending for as long as you need, but it could let them through by accident, though it won't until the surroundings are stable, which they aren't right now." Star said, reading my mind. The dream sun was starting to set, so I said bye and watched the colorless onion take off. I blinked in the dusk, and I woke up to a loud beep from my closed computer. It was midnight, and the others didn't notice the beep. I checked my computer and saw that my machine had another log entry. "7 days after transportation: new accomplice detected. Age copied from subject, mindset unknown, appearance unknown, abnormalities detected." I scrolled down to the abnormality, and what I saw scared me "abnormality unknown, target has been transported without warning" Star was right, something had messed with my machine, and now whatever it was, it was loose in the human world…

**Chapter 8 finished! Originally the story was going to only be about the pikmin adapting to the human world, but at around chapter 4, I thought the story needed something more. Instead of adding an obvious enemy, I added a mystery, and a second goal. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with the mystery yet, but I think it makes things interesting, it also explains the machines malfunctions better. The next chapter is going to be the start of school, so you'll get to see how that turns out! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 9: cooking with fire

"Wake up Alex!" someone said. I couldn't tell who it was because I was still sleepy "five more minutes" I mumbled, without opening my eyes "come on!" I heard the girl say. I sleepily opened my eyes to see Aqua looking at me "good, your awake!" she smiled and jumped down. "Come on! You don't want to be late for your first day of school, do you?" she said. I groaned internally. School was fun most of the time, but I hated having to get up early, not to mention the homework that's sometimes impossible to do. Think I'm kidding? Swimming assigns 10 miles in a row, and if they don't believe you did them, you have to do twice as much after school. Thankfully, today was cooking, so I could get my mom to help with any work I had. I sleepily got dressed and went up to eat. "Morning Alex, ready for school?" Flame said. I was surprised that he was the only one with a bag on "oh, Flame is the only one school ready, the others have to get used to their bodies still" mom explained to me. I guess it was for the better, one person that needed to be introduced was enough "maybe I should take you to see how Flame does" she said "no, he needs to experience the bus" I said "bus?" Flame asked. I rolled my eyes. He sat in the window seat, so there wasn't much interaction between him and others, and we went to cooking when we got to school. All that we did was go over the code of conduct, each everyone should know about, and then we cooked chicken. Most of the kids either burned or undercooked theirs, though there were some that were edible, mines wasn't one of them. There were, however, two that were perfect. Flame's was one, his even had a flavor the instructor delighted at, the others was a girl named Amber, who looked rather pretty, if I say so myself. She was a red head with brown eyes, and was about Flames height. We stayed in the class for lunch, and a couple of boys came over to Flame "hey new kid, think you're so special?" one of them said "leave him alone" I said "this isn't about you Alex, and you don't want to make it so, do you?" a different kid asked. Flame was confused at first, but now I saw his anger flare up, but he stayed quiet "it is my problem, it's not his fault he can cook perfectly" I said, not knowing how else to defend him. One of the boys pushed me, making me stumble and fall. In truth, I wasn't defending Flame, I was protecting the boys. Why do they need protecting? Your about to find out. I could see the anger in Flame clearly, and so could the boys "leave him alone" Flame said, restraining the anger in his voice. There was a collective 'ooh!' from the crowd "or what?" the first boy said, pushing Flame. I expected Flame to fall, like I did, but he didn't. He easily kept his balance…and lunged at the boy. Flame didn't realize he wasn't supposed to fight, so his natural inclination was to defend himself in that exact way. The other kids stayed back, one tried to get close and ended up kicked, but no one could tell who kicked him. After a bit, Flame was thrown off. "You really want to fight? Lets fight for real" the boy said, throwing a punch at Flame. Flame didn't know how to react, so he yanked on the arm, throwing the boy into the wall. The boy was knocked out. The other kids looked at the boy, then looked at Flame. After a few seconds, they all started clapping. It was obvious Flame didn't know what was going on. One of the boys who were with the first came up to Flame "what's your name?" he asked "uh, just call me Flame" he said "wow! That's a cool name!" "I bet he got that name because he can destroy anything!" "He so cool!" everyone loved Flame, and soon, they started chanting his name. After the crowd died down, and they went back to eating, Amber came up to Flame. "Wow, you're really something, huh?" she said. Flame only nodded "well, I'm Amber, maybe we could hang out sometime" she said. She gave him a piece of paper and walked off. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and when we got home Flame told mom about it "so, you got into a fight?" worry was in her voice, but she was looking at me "Flame fought for me, actually. You should have seen him, he was amazing!" I said. She rolled her eyes and went to work. "Alex, can I ask you something?" Flame said "sure" I replied "well, you know the girl who gave me the paper?" he said "yea" I said "well, she gave me this" he showed me the paper, which had a phone number on it "Flame, she likes you" I said, trying not to laugh "ok, but why did she give me this?" he asked. I forgot the pikmin don't understand the concept of 'dating' "flame, she wants to go out with you, like on a date" I said. He just looked at me confused. I sighed "it's not easy to explain Flame, ask her the next time you see her, ok?" I told him. He nodded, and went to help my mom cook. Daisy was flipped upside down on the couch watching TV. She seemed ok to go to school tomorrow, so I left her. At dinner, mom gave Flame utensils "use these to eat, ok?" she said. He looked puzzled, and after 5 minutes of using them incorrectly, he gave up and ate with his hands. After they got dressed for bed, Flame immediately fell asleep. I was pretty tired myself, and went straight to bed, thinking about how the next day would go.

**This went through rewriting quite a few times to get it the way I wanted to, but I did it. I made each class to suit each pikmin type, so there will be some unusual classes, but not many. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 10: electrical building

"Come on Alex!" Aqua said, as she shook my arm to get me up. I sleepily got up, remembering there was school again today. Aqua ran upstairs, and I got dressed and followed her. After eating, I noticed that Flame wasn't up. "Where's Flame?" I asked "he caught a cold and he's staying home today" mom said "ok" I said with a nod. After Daisy got her book bag ready, we went to the bus. Most of the kids were quiet like last time, and we got to school without anything significant happening. Today was technology, so we went there. We were put into pairs, and I was paired with Daisy. She was amazing with technology, and we ended up being the only one who had a working machine by lunch. While we were eating, a few girls came up to Daisy "wow, green hair only on the top?" one of them asked. Daisy stayed quiet "aww, the poor girls shy!" she said sarcastically. Instead of responding, Daisy zapped her with the machine. I looked at her in shock "she zapped me!" the girl said "don't play with electricity if you don't want to get shocked" Daisy said with a smirk "you don't know who you're messing with" the girl said "I don't really care, either" Daisy replied. I remembered the former pikmin didn't know about the social life in the human world, so Daisy didn't realize the girl in front of her was one of the popular ones. "Now if you'll excuse me, I want to keep eating" Daisy said. The girls walked away. "Wow, great with technology and standing up for yourself" a boy said to her. She looked at him "yea, kind of what I'm known for" Daisy said. That was a bit of an over statement, but it was close enough. "People call me static, because I have a tendency to shock people" he said "I'm Daisy" Daisy replied "so, are you free next week?" he asked "uh…" Daisy seemed at a loss for words "yes, she's free" I said "are you her brother?" static asked me "no, but she lives with me" I said. he seemed confused "her parents left her when she was little, so mine take care of her instead" I said "ok" he said, before walking off. After we were finished, the teacher told us to make robots and fight them, winner gets a prize. Most of the others built huge robots, and I suggested doing the same, but Daisy didn't want to, and she made a replica of the onion instead. I was confused at first, but she assured me it would win. We were the first to go up, so I turned it on and it hovered to the floor. "Wow, you think that thing is going to win?" the opponent asked. I didn't say anything, but Daisy responded with confidence "not just win, but destroy yours" well, I've been known to do badly before. We activated our robots, and Daisy showed the reason for her confidence. The onion replica let out 10 winged pikmin replicas, who hovered around the onion as it lifted into the air…and out of reach. There was only an activation switch on the remote, and now I knew why. The pikmin replicas flew towards the opponent's robot, who tried to grab at them, but missed every time. The pikmin replicas hit the robot enough times, and it fell. They left the pieces and went back into the replica onion, which was now on the ground. At the next fight, the number had doubled! Each fight, the number doubled again, until by the final fight, there were 100. This robot was huge, and the pikmin replicas wouldn't be able to penetrate the armor, but Daisy didn't know that. The pikmin replicas tried to hit it, but didn't do any damage, and the robot had the same problem. The pikmin replicas were too fast to hit, and the bigger robot was too strong. The pikmin replicas hovered just out of reach, then half of them went after the student controlling the robot, and hovered in front of his face. While the student was distracted, the remaining 50 knocked the robot down, and deactivated it, winning the battle. "Wow…" I said. Daisy had done all of the programing, so I didn't know it could do that "how did you manage that?" I asked her "it helps to know the mind of your creation" she said. In other words, she programed them to be just like pikmin! That was incredible! We got to keep our robot because of it too! Daisy told mom all about the day, including when static asked her out, though she didn't realize that's what he did. I looked outside and saw Aqua swimming as if she was born in the water, which she technically was, so I knew she would be ready for school tomorrow. I looked at the robotic Onion, and I decided to show the others the pikmin. Unfortunately, when I started it up, the pikmin didn't come out. Instead, it spat out 5 seeds, which embedded themselves into the carpet. That's when I realized, a little too late, that Daisy had programed them with full pikmin capabilities, which meant that they needed to reproduce like pikmin as well. I sighed, plucked the 5 robotic pikmin, and let the former pikmin play with them. Each one looked exactly like the pikmin it was a copy of, except all of them had a grey color instead of the normal color. I sighed, then I remembered the mysterious force. There was no way to tell what it would do, or even what it was. If it used my machine, then it was most likely human, but I didn't know what to do about it. Oh well. I yawned, feeling very tiered all of a sudden. After dinner, I got ready for bed, and almost immediately fell asleep.

**Wow, this one was hard to write. Based on how hard it was to write this one, I can't make enough of a story for all the others, sorry. In the next chapter, I'm going to summarize the remaining peoples first day of school, but I've run out of ideas. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 11: sick at home

"Alex, come on!" Aqua said, shaking me much harder than the last few days. "Alex!" she said. I felt her touch my fore head, then quickly pull back "ow! Why are you so hot?" she said. Yep, that confirmed what I was feeling, I caught the same cold Flame had yesterday, only worse. I missed the rest of the first week of school because I was too sick to go, but the others told me some of what happened. Unfortunately, each of them ended up with the same cold and couldn't go back to school. When Aqua went to school, it was swimming day. The first assignment was to swim 20 laps (standard size racing pool) and aqua did it at about a lap a minuet. During lunch, she was made fun of because of her green hair. She, being shy, had just looked at the ground, but a boy named Jet defended her. Later on, Jet asked if she was free the week after. After lunch they had a swim race, and Aqua won by a long shot. When muscles went to school, it was wrestling day. Why wrestling was in my schedule, I had no idea, but it was there. No one could match Muscles in wrestling, and most of the girls were surrounding him whenever they weren't doing anything. Besides that, he didn't say much. When Toxic went to school, it was track and field day. Again, no clue why I was given that. The first assignment was 4 laps around a standard track (1 mile), and she ran it in 5 minutes. She was made fun of for her hair too, but a boy nicknamed poison helped her, then asked her out. After lunch, the teacher had them race 5 miles, she did it at a lap per minute. Rocky went to school after words, and it was P.E. He didn't really do much, but a girl sat with him. He didn't get her name though. When Ariel went to class, it was chorus. May had signed up for the same chorus class as me to help me with singing (I'm terrible at singing), and since Ariel wouldn't say anything, May told me instead. The teacher asked who would like to sing, and Ariel was the only one who would sing. May says she was a beautiful singer, and most of the boys surrounded her. After lunch, the teacher had everyone compete in a sing off. At first, Ariel went against girls who just sung, but when a boy was against her, he tried to gain an advantage and rap. Ariel had no idea what rap was, and she looked at May scared. With encouragement from May, she didn't miss a beat when it was her turn. All the other kids stared at her in awe as she rapped like she was doing it her whole life. Even the teacher went up against her, and Ariel won! I was glad the others had been so successful, but I was terrible, and I had to go makeup what I didn't do because I was sick. On Friday, Ariel came to talk to me, even though several someone had asked her out that day. "Why aren't you on your date?" I asked her "date?" she asked back "let me rephrase that, why aren't you with the boy who wanted to hang out with you?" I said "well…I canceled at the last minute" she said "why?" I asked "I'm worried about something" she replied nervously "there was a boy who asked to hang out with me. He had green hair, just like Flame, muscles, and Rocky, but his clothes were yellow." She said "who wears yellow clothing?" I asked, not realizing she wouldn't know what that meant "that's not what bugged me, it's that and the green hair, and I think he's a pikmin" she said "A pikmin?" I asked "but I didn't let any pikmin in. what's his name?" I asked. "Uh, it's…" she started "oh, I know he told me!" she said, frustrated "I can't remember!" she stomped her foot childishly. I tried not to laugh at that "he probably just dyed his hair green." I said "and there are many people who wear wacky clothing for no reason, maybe he likes green and yellow" I suggested "yea…that's probably it…" she said "I'll invite him over next weekend, if that's ok with you" she said "yea, it would probably be better that way" I said, wanting to see this guy in person. Maybe there wasn't anything that had tampered with my machine at all, maybe this guy, whoever he was, was a different yellow pikmin who had gotten too close to Daisy when the machine activated, and he got transferred with her, like Star said. But how would he have gotten oriented so quickly? He could have wandered off on his own, but in 7 days? It took Flame longer than that to get used to his body, and Flame was the first one to go to school. I had a feeling Ariel was just paranoid, and whoever this guy was, was just a normal kid who died his hair green and wore yellow clothing. But it did turn my attention back to whatever had caused my machine to go haywire. It couldn't have been an accident, something must have purposefully sabotaged the machine. I did look back at the machine, and I figured out that it wasn't the one who made the pikmin act up, it was Aqua, who was always more human in personality, and that probably conflicted with the machine's transfer. Once Aqua had returned to her normal, shy but sweet self, all the others calmed down as well. I yawned, still recovering from my cold, and went to bed. I laid awake for quite some time thinking about what could have happened, and possible solutions. But after going through a few options, I slowly drifted to sleep.

**Done with the summary! I had to put in something other than the summary so that it wouldn't be too short, but here it is! This is the first time I truly made my own storyline, so I'm having trouble coming up with ideas, but I already know how it's going to end. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and I'm wide open to input. bye for now!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 12: fire fighting

I've had some pretty scary night mares, but this one was really bad. I dreamed I was alone in the pikmin world, and up against some of the scariest monsters that live there. I had to constantly move in order to survive, but there was no escape. If I was lucky enough to kill one, 2 more of the same creature would take its place! And that became a really big problem when I went after the Bulbear. I woke up terrified, and couldn't go back to sleep. It was the first real day of school, and I was finally over my cold. I got dressed while the others were still asleep, then I waited for them to get up. After breakfast, which they still ate sloppily, we got our bags ready and left for school. It was pretty uneventful until lunch. The former pikmin begged me to bring the robotic pikmin to school, so I did. The other kids marveled at the pikmin replicas. Flame was complaining about the assorted smells from the cafeteria, and Ariel wouldn't stop complaining about her legs. Of course, they weren't the biggest problem. We went inside one of the halls to cool off. "Man, I love the cool air!" Aqua said, practically dancing through the halls. All the pikmin were very good at dancing "it's a bit too cool for me" Rocky said "I like it, it's the same as the breeze I get while flying" Ariel said. Flame suddenly looked excited "anyone else smells smoke?" he asked. I sniffed the air, and smelled a faint trace of smoke. Before we could do anything, the fire alarm went off. Daisy went crazy, and the others weren't much more relaxed. I knew Daisy would have sensitive hearing, but the others should have been fine. I went to pull them outside, to find the exit blocked by fire. The others had calmed down enough to realize the situation "I thought you said we wouldn't have to deal with this!" Ariel said "it must have been the science lab" I said. We tried to go out another way, but we found ourselves trapped in the building. "Were gona die in here!" Toxic said, full out panicking "I can go get help!" Flame said "Flame, your human, you'll burn just like the rest of us!" I said, before going into a fit of coughing "Alex?" Rocky said. The smoke was getting to me, though they were able to tolerate it, still having a small part of plant in them. The alarm had shut off at this time, and now Daisy was just as scared as we were "how are we going to get help?" she asked "I don't know" I replied, struggling to breath. At this point, I could see the others struggling to breathe themselves "we can't just wait here!" Muscles said "you have a better plan?" Toxic shot at him "anything is better than just sitting here" Rocky said "not like there's anywhere to go!" Ariel retorted to him "ok, I'm going in!" Flame said, running through the fire "Flame!" I yelled, but he was already gone. Not more than a minute later, the smoke finally got to me, and I passed out. I had no idea what was happening, but I could feel myself drift into unconsciousness. I had never been this close to death, even through every experience on the pikmin planet, but I was sure I wouldn't wake up…I was wrong. I woke up coughing in the same bed I had been in after the transfer from the pikmin world. I tried to sit up, only to fall back down "easy there Alex" a girl said. I tried to focus on her, but I couldn't recognize her "who-" I was cut off by a fit of coughing "you haven't recovered yet, try to keep your talking at a minimum" she said "w-who are you?" I asked, struggling to talk. The girl rolled her eyes. I tried to focus again. She was wearing a pink hat and a white dress, she had brown hair and bright blue eyes. I still couldn't place her…until she took off the hat. It was Aqua. "Aqua?" I asked sleepily "so you do have your memory" she said. I nodded weakly "why aren't you dressed in your usual clothes?" I asked "all of our clothes burned in the fire, Flame is the only one whose clothes are still intact, and they were singed in several places. May says Flame came out of the fire coughing, was barely able to say we were in here, then collapsed. The only reason he's not burned to half a crisp is because of his clothing. The hospital gave me this, and they said the hat was part of the set. Hats are nice, and the dress feels a bit weird, but it's comfortable. Ariel says the dress they gave her is too long, and Daisy and Toxic complain theirs is too short, but I think this is pretty good. I haven't seen the other boys, but I assume they got what they're comfortable with." She smiled as she finished. I looked at my clothes and realized I was in new clothing as well "the Fire fighters were really nice, they reassured us that we didn't take any real damage, and told us you would be fine, though you took the most damage. Apparently we were able to tolerate the smoke, but you suffocated without oxygen." She said. Flame came in after "oh, he's awake" he said "yea, want to talk to him alone?" she asked. He nodded and Aqua left as Flame came in. it turns out that Flame was offered an internship at the fire station, but he wanted to finish school first. We got home without anything else going wrong, and I practically crawled into bed. I was recovering, but it would take a while for me to fully recover. I slowly fell into a restless sleep.

**Another chapter done! This one kind of came out of nowhere, and I actually changed the course of the story several times. I was originally going to make this character development, but I decided to change it. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm really open to input. Bye for now!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 13: from an AI view

Activation in progress, please standby… activation complete, opening Data stream…complete.

You may be wondering who I am. The question isn't who, but what, and the answer is simple: I'm the machine Alex built. Alex built me with the capacity for human thinking, as well as a human personality, meaning I can record, analyze, and store data in a way no other machine can, or ever could. But I'm off topic, let's get to what I really am writing about: Alex.

Where do I begin with this wonder? This boy surpassed almost every technological record I could find, and he even proved that a video game exists…or maybe it's once existed…or will exist? Oh well. This boy found he had amazing capabilities at 5 years old, and at 10, he built a working television set, a modern day one too! (Based on the actual modern day, 2013-2014) He later went on to be the only kid who could get into college at 13…if he wanted to. The thing was, he didn't. He had absolutely no intention of going to college, especially since he hadn't finished, or even started, high school. So his parents found an advanced school for him. After 2 years, he made me. And that's where we'll start.

Activation sequence starting…all systems normal…connecting data stream…starting video streaming…

My monitor opened up, showing a boy and a girl. Before I go on, I want to say that this is from my logs, which Alex repaired after figuring out what had demerged it (you'll find out about it later). The boy was Alex, but the girl remains unknown.

"Go away Sarah, I'm working!" Alex said, shooing the girl away.

"You never let me help you!" the girl complained, before stomping off.

Alex rolled his eyes and looked at the screen.

"Everything seems normal…maybe my alarm going off was coincidence" he said. He yawned and pressed the deactivate button.

Reactivation complete, Day one, June 15, year unknown.

My systems were functioning like normal, and I was ready to go…but Alex obviously wasn't. Thunder boomed in the distance, and I knew a storm was coming. As Alex went to sleep, I connected to his mechanical umbrella.

After an hour, the rain was coming hard. Alex was holding on to me and the mechanical umbrella, but I couldn't say anything. Suddenly, lightning struck.

Power surge detected, activating main sequence.

My systems started up as I got power, but had nowhere to direct it, so I transported myself and everything touching me, which happened to be Alex and the mechanical umbrella. I latched on to the umbrella, knowing I'd need it later, but I wasn't programmed to latch on to Alex, so he got lost. I had expected to move him through the region until I lost power, but I hadn't realized there was a hidden feature in me, I actually wasn't programmed to use it, but it was activated. So instead of moving place, I moved through time.

I was aware for 5 days, through which I explored the time transportation sequence. I was able to figure out how to reverse the time leap, but was unable to get to Alex, who had ended up somewhere else. I lost power, and went to sleep.

Systems activating, user found.

My screen lit up as Alex started me up. I explored my programming, and realized he had allowed me to lock onto targets that weren't touching me. He told me to lock on to all the pikmin leaders. Pikmin leaders? What the heck was a pikmin? I ignored the question I shouldn't have, and searched for targets that had the label, based on what Alex thought of them. I was able to find 7 that I knew were correct, but I found numerous targets that I couldn't pinpoint, but would still be transferable…except for one. He had told me the exact number I was supposed to transport, but I found one too many targets. I couldn't handle deciding between the two, so I dropped the one that didn't seem right…big mistake.

Override activated, overriding programming

I couldn't do anything as I transported every target I found, including the one I didn't think belonged. The override had bugs, and I knew it, so I locked on to the day I wanted while I let it handle making sure the targets got through safely.

Once in the right time frame, I realized there was a pending order to transform the targets into humans. Alex was already human, so I focused on the other targets.

Identifying targets…excess heat from one, target named Flame. Excess static from one, target named Daisy. Excess water from one, target named Aqua, excess muscle mass in one, target named Muscles. Unknown chemicals in one, target named Toxic. Abnormally tough skin on one, target named Rocky. No abnormality found on other, target named Ariel…other targets pending.

Ok, 7 came with Alex, so I still had time to figure out how to stop the override…or so I thought. The extra target had taken control without me knowing, and override was activated again.

Reconfiguring time jump.

Before I knew it, everything was moving in a jumble. I lost the logs for what happened, and even now, I can't remember them fully, only the parts I've told you. I stopped the time stream about 2 months, allowing age time for Alex. Due to the logs being cut, I had to cut the maturity for the former pikmin I didn't have on log, and they started acting up. I was forced to shut down to recover.

Reactivating. Showing logs

Alex wanted to see the logs, so I showed them to him. He seemed disappointed, and I didn't blame him. However, that's not the worst part. I knew school was supposed to start soon, but another signal was coming through. I tried to scan the signal, but the moment I connected, it overpowered me. This was the unknown signal. It was trying to get to my location, but I didn't let it, and the override wasn't programmed to change origin. It ended up in the same place Alex had ended up, and that's all I knew before I shut down.

**There's a bit of a clearer explanation about what happened. In truth, I wrote this partially to elaborate a bit more on Alex, and partially because I'm still stuck on an idea. I know I've had problems with spacing, so I tried a different approach. I'll probably stick with it, unless I forget, but feedback about it is great. I'd like to thank Keifren1ooo who, due to the shift of style, beta read this chapter. The reason I used my previous spacing is because I was trying to keep it to novel format, but it obviously didn't work, so I'll try this instead. I could really use an idea, because I'm stuck, and I want to keep updating daily, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to offer. Remember: I love criticism of all kinds, reviews encourage me, and as I said, I'm open to ideas. Bye for now!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 14: the color red

School was closed, so all the former pikmin were with friends, except Flame, who was still recovering, like me.

"The fire wasn't an accident" I said, after looking through a bunch of evidence "no one was in the lab"

"I'd say I don't believe you, but I've heard it before" he replied

"What do you mean?" I asked. I knew this would be one of his stories again, and I LOVED hearing about the pikmin past.

"Well, you remember that pikmin were originally colorless?" he asked. I nodded "well, grey pikmin were very good at adapting, so they could deal with the hazards…or so they thought. You know what, I think you have a machine that can tell this better"

Actually, I did. It was a virtual reality mind linker (I didn't have a name for it). It could recreate someone's thoughts into a picture another person could live. The only problem was pikmin tend to have linked memories to their onion, if the link still existed, then it could go haywire. But I decided to try it anyways. I put it on and connected it to Flame.

"Ready?" I asked. He nodded, and I activated it…and was thrown into a whole new world.

I was back on the pikmin planet, but I couldn't move. Two pikmin walked along a path, both of them were grey.

"Come on grey! When can we start Onion training?" one of them asked. This one seemed to be very young, and I knew that could be very bad with pikmin.

"Relax, we'll start after we collect the materials" the other, who I assumed was grey, replied. I noticed grey didn't name the second pikmin, though I didn't know why.

Grey got distracted, and the second pikmin started wondering off…and into a ring of fire geysers.

"Look out!" Grey said, but it was too late. The second pikmin was in a wall of fire.

My view shifted, and I saw the pikmin looking at the fire wall "no…this can't be happening…" he said, seeming defeated

"I'll get help, you stay here" Grey called, before running off. Of course, I couldn't see him, but I heard his footsteps.

The second pikmin walked off, probably not liking the heat. He walked a pretty large distance, before something came up.

"Well, it appears we've caught something" a creature said. I had no idea what it was, but it must have created the fire.

"You made the fire?" the pikmin said. Looking closer, I saw the creatures practically were fire, so it was pretty obvious they made it.

"Who else would have? Though I admit, I didn't expect something like you getting near it" it said.

I looked at the pikmin and could tell it was getting angry "what's that supposed to mean?" it said, restricted anger in its voice.

"Well, you're kind tends to be weak, so I figured you wouldn't get anywhere near here" it said, a smug grin outlined on its face.

The pikmins anger was growing, I knew it "weak? Have you seen what we can do?" it asked, the anger apparent

"Yes, and it's nothing compared to what we could do" the creature said, obviously taunting the pikmin. Before the pikmin could react, two more came up. The pikmin saw it was out matched, and ran.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere for the little guy to go, and he ended up at the fire wall again.

"Nowhere to run now" the first creature said, obviously enjoying this. The pikmin knew it was outmatched, but it had to fight.

"I can take you!" it said, faking bravery

"Hah! You'll burn to a crisp, and even if you wouldn't, a weakling like you doesn't stand a chance!" the same creature said.

The pikmin was in a fury, and it was apparent. His body started turning red, and, since I was facing him, I could see the anger in his eyes "take that back" he said, no longer trying to hold his anger back.

"Wow, red body color too. What's next? Your body bursting into Flames?" the creature said.

The pikmins body was full red now, and there was fire in his eyes "no, you're going to die" he said, before launching at the first creature. The single pikmin was able to not only defeat the creature, but he immediately went after the others!

I looked towards the wall and saw it had gone out…and there was a group of 10 grey pikmin there. The pikmin had defeated all three of the fire monsters, and turned to the other ten, now on fire himself.

"A-are you ok?" Grey asked. That pikmin must have been a site to the others

"Never better" the first pikmin said

"Well…I don't think you're a grey pikmin anymore" one of the pikmin said. The flames were out now, and the now red pikmin was looking at the others confused

"What do you mean?" he asked

"Your red now" Grey said. The red pikmin looked at himself. He had gone through a complete transformation, and now resembled a red pikmin completely

"I'm red…" he said, shocked

"Yes, and I think that should be your name" Grey said. He walked up to red and turned to the other pikmin "lets welcome our newest member, Red, the red pikmin!" the others started cheering, and Grey went to lift Reds hand, only to pull it back "wow, you're really hot!" he said.

After a while, they walked off, and the vision slowly faded.

I blinked in surprise "wow…so that's the real reason you're angry all the time" I said

Flame nodded "red pikmin HATE other creatures now, except for the captains, and of course, other pikmin. Were always angry because we always have that memory." He said.

I yawned, the memory took all day to go through. I changed into sleep wear, and I got into bed. I wondered about the other pikmin, and how they got their colors and attitudes, but my thoughts didn't last long before I fell asleep.

**Here's the red pikmin history! I'm going to do one of these for each pikmin periodically throughout the story, but not one after another. I'm still struggling with ideas, so I'd love to hear from the readers, and I always give credit. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 15: field trip

I woke up to Ariel shaking me.

"Come on Alex! The boy is here!" she said excitedly, running off.

After I got up, I found a boy with green hair wearing yellow clothes. He definitely didn't look like a pikmin.

I found out he had mimicked the hair from Flame, and he always wore yellow clothing.

School was still technically closed, but we had to go anyways. A group of kids filled the cafeteria.

"Due to the fact that the building still needs repairs, you will be taken on fieldtrips to substitute classrooms." The principle said.

I personally love fieldtrips, but I was worried about what the pikmin might do. We ended up on one bus, and the pikmin sat with the people who showed interest in them. Flame was with Amber, Daisy with static, Aqua with Jet, and so on. It looked like muscles had picked a girl he liked, and Ariel seemed to be with the kid that had green hair, though I could see the brown now.

We were taken to a water park for swim class.

"Since you all have electives that can't really be taught, you guys are allowed to have fun here instead. We will leave an hour before school should end" the swim teacher said. Everyone cheered and went to get into swim suits, except for the pikmin. Aqua ran off towards the water immediately, and had to convince the teacher she would be fine in her dress. The other pikmin wouldn't go in, so I told them to stay in the shade and not cause trouble, then went to go change.

Aqua was overjoyed at getting to spend the day in the water, and I could see some of the kids trying to convince the other pikmin to join.

After a bit, I went on the river and relaxed. I watched Amber finally convince Flame to get in. I figured the worst Flame could do was freak out at being drenched and stay out of the water the rest of the time, so I let him be. As it turns out, he freaked out the moment he was above his waist in water, and Amber had to drag him out of the pool. Then Aqua started pushing me, still wanting to move around, so I laid back and dozed off.

I woke up when Aqua started shaking me gently. "What's up Aqua?" I asked drowsily

"Is it really a good idea to let Daisy in?" She asked

I looked over to where Daisy was, and saw static trying to get her in, which wasn't good. Daisy still had a habit of shocking people on accident from time to time, and I had no idea how she'd react to water. She went to the water slide though, so I figured she was safe. Ariel was going towards the other waterslide with the boy she seemed obsessed with. I saw Muscles by a water playground, Rocky was talking to a girl near the pool, toxic was playing tag near a different playground, and Flame was still desperately trying to dry off.

Unfortunately, I hadn't been watching which slide Daisy had gone on. Most of the slides go into their own pool, so it would be safe, but one of the tallest slides led directly into the river. I saw her, and quickly got Aqua out. Luckily there wasn't anyone else in the river at the time, so when Daisy ended up in the water, no one got hurt. I could see the sparks along the water, and now everything electrical had shut off, making the park really dark, since it was heavily shaded.

Daisy had climbed out quickly, but everyone started freaking out. I heard several things crash, and a couple of them sounded like equipment. There was no way to see well, so I kept bumping into people. Soon, the emergency lights came on, but everyone was still panicking. I realized it was only students and life guards now, and apparently so did the teacher.

One of the teachers blew a whistle loudly, and all the kids came to their senses. Now, normally a whistle wasn't a problem, but normally, you don't have 7 people who are trained to run towards the source of a whistle when they hear it. All 7 former pikmin ran towards the teacher, and I heard several surprised whispers about it, but not much more.

Then I remembered we were looking for something that messed with the machine. I looked at the other kids, looking for any abnormal reaction to the whistle. I wish I had seen something, but if whatever messed with my machine was a pikmin, he or she hadn't come with us. That was disappointing, I would have liked to see how they would adapt to the world on their own.

I took a second look around and saw several posts and poles bent, broken, or knocked down. I figured that was the work of Muscles and Rocky panicking a bit too much. I also saw several things with scorch marks, which was probably from Flame.

We were sent back to the bus because the park had to close. All the former pikmin looked like they were nervous, but I figured no one knew they did anything. I was sitting next to my friend, who kept talking about how everything malfunctioned, and how Daisy was lucky she got out when she did.

Once we got back to the school, the parents were called to pick us up, since we didn't have anywhere to go.

I had to get their leftover abilities under control, but I had to figure out how first. Each pikmin had clothing that would nullify their ability, but while they were in swimsuits, the material couldn't do anything.

I yawned, and after changing, got into bed. There was a reason some of the former pikmin had their elemental abilities, but I couldn't figure out why. I slowly drifted off to sleep thinking about that.

**Another chapter done! Credit goes to Keifren1ooo for suggesting I show how the pikmin would be on a fieldtrip. Originally the fieldtrip was going to be to a museum or something, but I figured a waterpark was better. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 16: Amber and Flame

I woke up to an unusually peaceful house. I got up, and went up for breakfast. The whole house seemed empty, though that was probably because I had woken up late. I ate, and after a while, Amber and Flame came in.

"Wow, so it's like a genetic thing?" Amber asked, wonder in her eyes

"Uh…I think so." Flame replied.

"And the extra heat doesn't bother you?" she asked

"Nope, I love it, actually" Flame said.

"You're not bragging, are you?" I asked Flame

"That reminds me, I never asked about how you got out of the fire" Amber said, looking at Flame.

At this point we were all sitting on the couch, Flame and Amber next to each other with me sitting a bit away. "Well, my siblings always had a fear of Fire, and Alex was practically unconscious, so I knew I had to do something, so I ran through" Flame said calmly

"You weren't afraid of getting burned?" Amber asked in wonder

"He's a pyromaniac" I said without thinking

Flame gave me a puzzled look, but Amber didn't notice "wow, me too!" she said excitedly.

Ok, that kind of scared me "you are?" Flame asked, probably trying to figure out what a pyromaniac was

"Yea! There's just something about fire that attracts me" she said

Uh oh. I wasn't exactly worried about Flame telling Amber too much, but if he even slightly understood, or even cared, about what Amber had implied, then he could really freak her out.

"Oh, well I like its colors" Flame said lamely. I had to stop myself from laughing at how he covered up his origins.

"Really? It's the colors that are the most fascinating thing to you?" Amber said, a bit disappointed.

"No…" Flame said, trying to fix his mistake

"You guys want drinks?" I said, wanting to draw attention away from fire. I had a feeling Flames embarrassment would become all too apparent soon.

"Sure" Amber said, and Flame nodded his head.

I lost track of the conversation when I went to get drinks, and when I came back, they were talking about fire again.

"Then what is your favorite thing?" Amber asked

"He likes heat" I said

"Wow…so that's how you could run through it!" she said, amazement in her eyes.

"He's also a great cook" I said "he can make cake from scratch"

"Really?" amber asked "then let's see. Alex will be the judge of whose cake is better" she said, jumping up. They both ran to the kitchen to make cakes.

After a few hours, they not only came out with cakes, but burgers as well. They were both delicious, and I couldn't tell whose was better.

"I Guess it's a tie" Amber said. I looked at Flame, and it seemed like he was feeling really awkward.

"I'm going to talk to flame in private, ok Amber?" I said

"Fine by me" she said, eating another slice of cake

I took Flame into another room "are you sure you're ok?" I asked him

"I can't control my body heat Alex, there's just something about her. I feel like I'm inside the onion again" he said.

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked

"Not if I hurt her!" he said. I had to cool him off somehow. I would have suggested swimming, but I knew Flame would freak out again. "I feel like I should tell her, maybe it would help me" he said

"No, if you tell her you could make her freak out, plus she could tell other people. Remember, you're not keeping yourself a secret just so that you seem normal anymore, now you're doing it so that whoever messed with my machine doesn't find you" I said

"But she's different, there's something about her" he repeated

"Flame you're…" I paused. I was about to say he was in love, but I honestly didn't know myself "just don't tell her, at least not yet. Ok?"

"If you insist…ok" he said. We both went back out to Amber.

"Feeling better Flame?" she asked, obviously noticing something was wrong.

"Yea, thanks for asking" flame replied, smiling.

Amber smiled back "ok, but I think I should get going. It was nice getting to talk to you" she said, before getting up and going towards the door. Flame went to see her out, and came back with a dazed look.

"Are you ok Flame?" I asked him

"Yea…I should lie down though" he said, going to the bedroom.

I thought a little more about the thing that could have messed with my machine. It was possible, though unlikely, that it was amber, or one of the other former pikmin's friends, but I don't think it was. It's very likely it's someone who goes to our school, it was probably someone who was on the fieldtrip. Luckily, the pikmin didn't make too big a scene, though how they reacted to the whistle might have given them away, but I doubt it. It was all too unclear, there weren't enough answers yet, and it wasn't likely I could get them, not easily anyways. I'd have to wait and see how things went, and hopefully I could help the former pikmin get used to their emotions. I know Flame encountered one he hasn't experienced, though it's hard to judge which one. Then I thought to Aqua. She seemed to know more about humans than I had ever told the pikmin, and she seemed to be constantly experiencing new things, but never react to them. Even in human form, Aqua was something else. I yawned, thinking about what could be ahead. I spent many years with pikmin, and human life was difficult to readapt to. Normally I could be prepared for what's ahead, even if I didn't know what that was, but here everything was a mystery. I ate and went to bed early, with the other former pikmin coming home soon after. I drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

**Whew, another chapter done. I'm still struggling with ideas, and it's getting harder to keep writing, but I'm trying! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. bye for now!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 17: danger ahead

I woke up in a field again, except it was different. I could see the sun above me, though it hadn't risen far yet, but I could also see the grass was about as tall as me…or I it, I think. That's when I realized I was the size I was when I was with the pikmin! But…why?

"It'll happen whenever we want to speak to you, though not when you want to speak to us" I turned around and saw Star and Starlet a few steps away and the onion a bit farther back.

"You wanted to speak to me?" I asked. They had only wanted to speak with me a few times, and they had all been casual, but it was always at least a month since they had last spoken to me. Because each person they visited had to have the same number of pikmin as last time, the onion had to rotate its holding room (they didn't explain it to me), and that took a lot of energy. Why each person they visited needed a set amount of pikmin? It was another dream rule.

Star and Starlet looked at each other "it's about the pikmin" Starlet said

"They don't miss me too bad, do they?" I asked, suddenly worried. I had made the strongest bond with the pikmin leaders who were with me, but there were a few other pikmin friends I had that I had to leave.

"Their fine, and thriving quite well, actually. We were talking about the pikmin that are with you, the ones that are currently human." Star said.

"Is there a problem with them I don't know about?" I asked. They seemed fine, but there were things they could have been hiding from me.

"You would know if something was wrong, if they didn't tell you your machine would" Star said

"Were more concerned about you" Starlet finished. This confused me, mostly because they had said they were concerned about the pikmin.

"The pikmin themselves are fine, it's the danger their causing to you, and the rest of the world, that concerns us. Though mostly you" Star said. It made sense they wouldn't care too much about the human world, but their explanation just confused me more.

"How am I in danger? I know what their abilities are, so I can avoid damage, so how am I in danger? Are they unstable?" I asked. If they were unstable, the whole world could be in danger. I had no idea how much energy was put into reforming their bodies, and raw energy mixed with elemental abilities was a bad combination.

"No, their human form is stable, for the most part at least. They themselves aren't dangerous to you, though maybe a bit to other people" Star said. Ok, now they were getting really confusing.

"Isn't death excluded from the rule?" Starlet asked Star

"How should I know? They don't tell me anything anymore" Star replied.

This completely confused me "death? Your saying I could die?" I asked

Star sighed (don't know how without a mouth, but it happened) "Alex, they themselves are no threat, it's the…tag-along, as you'd say, that is the problem" he said, seeming to choose his words carefully.

"You mean like a pikmin virus? I could get an antidote" I hadn't known they were sick, and I had no idea how to get a cure, but I could try.

"Dang it! Someone is after you and the pikmin Alex!" Starlet practically yelled in frustration

"Starlet!" Star exclaimed in surprise

"I'm not going to let him die because of secrecy, I'm sure they'll understand" she replied.

They started arguing, but I wasn't paying attention. Someone was after me AND the pikmin? Well, now I knew the mysterious person wasn't friendly. "Is there a way to avoid it?" I asked them.

They both looked at me "yes, it's what we came to tell you. You have to send the pikmin back, but you can't do it normally, the machine could easily send you with them. You have to activate the return home feature" Star said

"But that's irreversible, I could never return!" I said, shocked

"So is death, choose the lesser evil, as you say" Star replied

"There has to be another way!" I said, really upset.

"There is one way" Starlet said hesitantly "but we can't tell you right now"

"What do you mean you can't tell me?" I asked

"We'd have to take you to dream city, and you would have to be in a coma." Star said

"If you do end up in a coma, we can show you, but if you leave our meeting ground now, you may never return, and that big a risk can't be taken" Starlet said.

"And why do I have to go to Dream city for you to tell me?" I asked

"We can't tell you, we have to show you" Star replied

"Dream rules?" I asked. They nodded "well how do I activate the return home feature?" I asked

"Set it to reverse mode for a week nonstop, and it will do it automatically" Star said

"A week? What if the person finds us?" I asked

"Keep the pikmin in a place only you know about until it's done, and stay with them." starlet said "oh, keep your family there too"

"But what about school? What if it's an emergency?" I asked

"We'll convince the council to allow us to tell you the night before they'll find you, unless they'll find you on a week end, then we'll tell you on Friday" Star said

"Just enough time to get everything set up" Starlet said

"Well, what if he finds the machine?" I asked

"That's what we are most afraid of, but it's your call to take the risk" Star said

My vision flickered, and I realized the sun was starting to set. "That's our cue, bye Alex!" Starlet said.

"Wait!" I called out as they ran off, but it was too late. The onion took off, and I blinked myself awake to midnight. I sighed and went back to sleep, hoping for the best.

**Another chapter done! I decided to give a bit more danger to the story, not only does it give more tension and excitement, it also gives another way to end the story. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 18: fighting an unknown enemy

The nightmares I had were terrible. Distorted colors, multiple voices, hordes of enemies. I could tell they were all different situations though, and that's what scared me. No, that wasn't the scariest part, the thing that spooked me the most was one, really clear scene. My machine was behind me, the pikmin in front, and in front of them, was a robot. The machine had a blinking light, and a flashing button that said "activate". I knew exactly what that button would do, but I didn't want to press it. Of course, I didn't actually know what it would do, the dream me did.

It was Sunday when I woke up, so I decided to do a little research on the hidden properties of my machine, as well as work out some of the kinks. The return home feature locks on to any changes made since the last reboot, which was when I first activated the machine. It takes a week to get ready because it has to scan every network possible to find even the smallest change it made and figure out what it was before. If it locks on to objects, no signs are shown, if it locks onto a person or animal, that creature would know immediately. Now, animals wouldn't have the brain capacity to figure out what was going on, but a human would know something was wrong, and a doctor could tell them what happened if they look on their computer, since it uses computer networks to find objects. If the person in question knew how to track the signal, they could shut off the machine before it completed the process. You would probably think it shut down before, but that was sleep mode, it has to be shut off manually. A shutdown would force someone to reboot it, and sleep mode wouldn't cause the process to stop. That meant if I started it, I'd have to hide and protect it, no way I was risking that right now.

Once the process is complete, the machine ensures that it can't be reversed, so it marks the area as a danger zone, causing complete disconnection, permanently. This means that if I used the return home feature, I'd never be able to go back to the pikmin world unless I built a different machine, which could take months, most likely years.

While going through the programing, I found out that whatever came through was someone, or something, that I had met before. It was night, so I went to bed.

The next day the building had finally been repaired, so me and the former pikmin went to school. Not a whole lot went on during the classes, but lunch was a different story.

"You must be Alex, am I right?" a boy asked.

I looked up and saw a boy with a red hat who was wearing a green tee-shirt and pants. "Yes, who are you?" I asked

"I'm…max" he said. The way he hesitated made me uneasy, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt

"Why were you looking for me?" I asked. Being straight forward always got me farther in life than waiting for someone else to say what they wanted

"I heard rumors about you building an amazing robot with…Daisy, if I remember correctly" he said. Ok, now several alarms were going off in my head. This guy was trouble, but I didn't know how.

"Well, I don't like to brag, but it's pretty impressive" I said, making sure not to say too much

"Any chance I could see it?" he asked. I thought for a second, then took out the robotic onion.

"That little thing is it?" he asked, a bit of taunting in his voice.

The onion burst to life, dropping onto the table on its three legs. Then 10 of each pikmin came out. "THAT'S it" I said. His face said he was amazed, but his eyes showed restricted action.

"Are those robotic pikmin?" he asked.

I nodded "they sure are" I paused a second, and decided to lie, just in case "I programed them to act like actual pikmin as well" I hated lying, but I didn't want him to figure out Daisy was a former pikmin. If he thought I was a former pikmin, then I could easily prove him wrong, if he thought Daisy was a former pikmin, then I'd want a plan to take out whoever was after us.

He was about to say something, when the bell rang "I've got to go, see you later" I said, running off with the robot and the bag.

The rest of the day was uneventful, and thank goodness it was too. I couldn't stop thinking about that Max boy. He seemed harmless, but there was something off. Maybe it was how friendly he seemed, maybe it was how he knew a lot about me. It could be the fact that he wore all green, except for his hat.

When we got home, I remembered about the pikmin games I had. Should I show them? How would they react? Many different thoughts went through my head, but one stuck in particular: did they know about videogames? Well, I had several consoles…maybe I could show them?

I decided I wouldn't show them how I first learned about them just yet, but I could show them a different video game, and that's just what I did.

The pikmin gathered around my Wii U as I showed them one of the games I was making (I figured I might as well make a videogame if I could program it). They really enjoyed it, and I couldn't drag them away for anything. My mom solved the problem by turning it off after a few hours, then dealing with them complaining about how 'unfair' she was being. I yawned, tired from school. I climbed into bed and thought about Max, about the pikmin, about everything. But I couldn't figure out anything right now, and I fell asleep.

**Another chapter done! There's nothing extra I can think of right now, so, yea. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 19: closer than it seems

I woke up to the rising sun…but something was wrong. Well, a couple things, actually. I was in a sandy area, dense trees a couple yards away in every direction. The next thing I noticed was I was pikmin sized again, which meant Star was visiting again. But why would he visit me? The moment that thought crossed my mind, I noticed the scariest thing about all this. The sky was a dark orange, the sand was blood red, even the trees were a fiery color. Something was defiantly wrong.

"Your right Alex, and that's what we came to talk to you about" Star said.

"What happened? And why is everything red?" I asked. The dream pikmin never visited me with only one night in between unless something big was going to happen.

"The coloration of your surroundings reflect how your feeling, and right now, you feel stressed by the danger" Starlet said

"Ok, but what was so important you came to me so quickly after the last visit?" I asked.

"We visited Dream city to talk to the Dream council last night, and they were in a panic" Star said

"What? Why?" I asked

"If the enemy you face remains unchallenged here, the whole world could be in danger" Starlet said

Well, this defiantly took on a story-like feeling. Now I was saving the world? "No, someone else could handle it, were worried about you" Star said, reading my thoughts

"Look, I'm not sending the pikmin back" I said

"Alex, this isn't about you anymore. On Monday night, he will attack your house. There's no might, he WILL attack if he stays here." Starlet said "that's why we came, the warning isn't minor anymore"

"Wait, so in a week he's going to attack?" I asked. They nodded "so you're saying I have to activate the return home feature now?"

"It's not our request anymore. We asked the dream council for permission to tell you 2 days in advanced, and they told us to tell you now" Star said

"But He'll know, he'll stop me from activating it" I said

"Not if you program it right" Starlet replied "if you turn on stealth mode, by programming it differently, then it can do all the preparations it needs without alerting anyone, then it can go into the final procedures.

"How do I do that?" I asked

"Program it to find all the targets and locate their time first, it'll take longer. But the difference is worth it. Instead of being available that morning, it will be available around noon, if you time it right." Star said

"What about the pikmin, I'll never see them again!" I said

Star and Starlet just looked at each other, then at me "you don't have all your memories, do you?" Starlet asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked back

"Alex, you've already seen the pikmin before" Star said

"Well I know that, how else could I have gotten the pikmin leaders here?" I asked rhetorically

"Do you remember how the Emperor Bulbax wanted you dead? How the Titan Dweevil and the Plasm wraith were after you as well, even though you didn't do anything?" Starlet asked. I nodded "you traveled into the past, but you had already sent something there"

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Alex, the games" Starlet said

I thought about the pikmin games, but I had practically lived them. Then I remembered something I had done. I was very young when I started programming, and when I had first played pikmin, I had thought it needed a more realistic aspect to it, so I modified it. There was a glitch in the program though, and a parasitic creature was put in. I took it out while in the game, but the code was still in the program, but I couldn't find the bug.

I could feel the color drain from my face as I realized I had created the bloodthirsty creature that had almost destroyed me, the pikmin, Olimar. Me changing the program made it real, and the parasite I had put in wanted me dead. I guess it had combined with the programming of another monster and wanted Olimar gone as well.

My vision became darker, but the sun was still high in the sky. "Alex?" I faintly heard Starlet. I heard the faint footsteps of pikmin as I started swaying. I finally fell, and the pikmin caught me.

"It's not your fault Alex, you were only about 6 or 7, you didn't know the consequences" Starlet said, trying to consol me.

I wasn't paying attention. The realization that most of what happened was my fault had made a huge impact on me. It definitely didn't help that the area was now black.

"Star, do something!" Starlet said, panicking

"What can I do? I don't know how to help him!" Star replied

"Do one of those distraction things" she replied

"Those only work on pikmin, and only when they aren't at the verge of unconsciousness" he shot back

"What do we do? This never happened!" Starlet said. Seeing them panic, however weakly I could focus didn't help at all and actually made it worse. My vision flickered from blurry to dim, and I knew I wouldn't last much longer. What would happen if I passed out while they were still with me?

"Star! What will happen?" Starlet was in full panic now

"I don't know! Dream council never told us!" he replied, all composure gone. This had to be the scariest thing for them since leaving the waking world, since this is the only time they have been in danger.

"That's it! He's dreaming!" Star finally said

"And that helps how?" Starlet said. By now all the others were running around in panic

"Wake him up!" Star said

"What? Do you know what that could do?" Starlet asked

"It might hurt a pikmin, but humans are used to nightmares" he replied

They ran to the onion, and suddenly I woke up screaming.

**Another chapter written! I have no idea where this came from, but there it is! Actually, I know some sources. I thought a bit about how the ending might be, and I figured I would leave enough room for two options. Also, I was rereading one of my earlier stories, and I realized there was something I never explained, so I decided to sort it out here. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 20: static shock

I woke the whole hose with my screaming, and it took at least an hour to get me to stop crying. After everyone else had gone back to bed, I couldn't sleep, so I started the procedures for the return home feature, making sure to put the right programming in.

I put some thought about what Star and Starlet had said. I don't think the memory I had discovered was the memory they had wanted me to remember, but there wasn't anything else I knew about. I shrugged it off and started working out how to fight this person, and how to figure out who he or she was.

The others woke up before I had figured it out, and I got dressed and ate breakfast, then went to school.

Today in electrical engineering, the others had to build another machine, but me and the former pikmin were told to solve an electrical puzzle that some of the students had made trying to fix the lights, which had a habit of flickering from time to time.

"Aqua, give me the wire clippers" Daisy said.

"Which ones are those?" Aqua replied, looking through the tool belt. Me and Daisy were the only ones actually getting anything done, and I was afraid something would happen and we'd all end up in trouble. We were deep into the electrical system, and the power to the area was shut off so that we wouldn't get hurt. There were several loose wires and metal beams that were supposed to control electrical currents, and if they were charged there would be no way out. Not only that, but the wire Daisy wanted to cut was a stabilizer. If she cut that and the power came on, we would have maybe ten minutes before the florescent bulbs above us would burst, causing the flow of electricity to go throughout the entire area.

She cut the wire. "Give me the pliers" she said

"Piers?" Aqua asked

"I know where they are!" Ariel said

"No way, I know it!" Toxic said competitively

The two girls fought over the tool bag, knocking Flame into the electricity switch

"Watch it!" Flame said, not paying attention. Suddenly the light behind Rocky lit up, signifying an electric current.

"Ow! Isn't the electricity off?" Daisy asked, rubbing her hand

"Did you hit the switch?" I asked Flame

"Oppse…" Toxic and Ariel said at the same time

The lights started Flashing above us "ok, can you guys hit it again?" I asked.

Flame tried to press it, but yelped in surprise as it shocked him "nope, its charged" he said

"Ok, can one of you get outside and shut the power off there?" I asked

"The bar is too high, and the one above it too low. We can't get through" Muscles said

"I could" Daisy said, sliding down

"Daisy, you're not shock proof anymore. You could get hurt" I said

"Don't you think I know that?" she asked, showing her finger, which was darker "I can maneuver better than the others, and I'm shock resistant. I have the best chance of surviving"

The lights sparked, signifying 5 minutes until they overloaded "fine, just be careful" I said. She immediately dove in-between the bars and took off.

It was a good thing I let her go, because right before the lights burst, the power turned off. I took the chance to look at the circuitry, and saw a disabled safety trigger near the power switch. It wasn't supposed to be activated, even if someone pressed it, unless there was a full current. Without the safety lock, not only would it activate when pressed no matter what, it would become charged. The safety switch could only be disabled intentionally, which meant someone knew it would be pressed, and wanted us to be trapped. I knew it was whatever had messed with my machine.

We came out to applause, and I saw the lights brighter than ever, and I realized I had accidentally fixed the lights, as well as reactivate the stabilizer, when I was looking through the circuits. Then I saw there was video from inside, showing Daisy going through the electrical obstacle course.

"That was amazing Daisy!" Static said. "How could you stand the pain of getting your leg shocked?"

She shrugged, and I saw on the video she had tripped over one of the bars, and kept going, ignoring the pain. "Daisy, can I see your leg?" I said. She looked at me, and then rolled up her pant sleeve to her knee, showing blackened skin "you don't feel that?" I asked

"I can say it was worse when I was trying to run through that electrified obstacle course." She said, gingerly rubbing her leg.

"And it feels ok? Not too much pain?" I asked

"I'm fine Alex, Flame passed out because of the fire and look where he is now" she said, nodding at Flame. Flame was talking to a group of kids who kept glancing at Daisy.

"Ok, you've convinced me, just be careful, ok?" I asked. She nodded, and Static took her over to a different group of kids.

I wondered how anyone would get into the electrical system, and why was this happening before the dream pikmin said it would? Did I do something wrong in the programming? No, I couldn't have, I wouldn't be here, and I'd be being attacked. Oh well, I'd have to wait and see.

The rest of the day was uneventful, except for Daisy being sent to the nurse during swimming when she suddenly couldn't move her leg anymore. She turned out to be alright though, so I wasn't worried.

I was way too tired to do anything, or even think about anything for that matter. I looked at my machines' log and saw it said the process was going as planned, so I left it. I got into bed and fell asleep quickly, hoping nothing else would go wrong.

**Another chapter done! I'm coming up on the end of this story since I'm low on ideas, but I'll make another one afterwards…probably. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I love input. bye for now!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 21: filled with poison

I stayed home with Daisy the next day while she recovered, and later heard Aqua had gone against a sudden current to save someone in the beach. Not much else happened that day though.

My night mares were getting worse and worse, it even seemed like it was the same one, just longer. Every day, the same pieces of random scenes would appear. Distorted color, distorted sound, it was never clear what was happening. But, every day, more pieces show up, sometimes connecting two scenes, sometimes making one longer. The scenes were still scattered, and I couldn't tell what it was, but one scene always stood out, and that one scene was terrifying, and it was always different.

I woke up several times, and after the fourth time, decided just to stay up.

I checked on the machine, and was happy to know it had started the preparations perfectly, and was now starting to locate the targets. I just wished it could go by faster so that I'd have a definite backup if I couldn't figure this out.

I got dressed, then got the others up. After we ate breakfast, we went to school.

Nothing happened in my first three classes, but lunch was a different story. We were asked to go into the science room for lunch, and when we asked about anything dangerous, the teacher who asked said there weren't any chemicals in there this time.

"What are we looking for again?" Daisy asked, looking through some of the drawers

"He said he wanted the metal, right?" Aqua asked, looking at some of the tubes

"Is this it?" Toxic asked, looking at a capped beaker. It had some liquid in it, and was in a freezer, we could see it through a window

"Not sure, but I wouldn't-" I was cut off as Ariel, who was wrestling with Daisy (don't ask why), knocked into me, causing me to knock over a caped beaker, which shattered.

"THAT'S why I told you not to wrestle!" Muscles said, helping Ariel up. Rocky was helping Daisy

"Anyone else smell something strange?" Flame asked

"I don't smell anything" Rocky said

I went to speak, but started coughing instead. "What's Methane?" Aqua asked, picking up a label

"That's deadly to humans!" Toxic said, going to open the door. It wouldn't budge "it's locked from outside!" she said.

My vision was darkening, and I was gasping for air. With what little I could see, the others were getting to the same state "what do we do?" Aqua said weakly

"I got it" Toxic said, running over to a vent "Muscles, help me out over here!"

Muscles went and help her turn the handle a Rocky rammed into the door, trying to open it. "Not yet Rocky!" Daisy said, before she started coughing. I finally blacked out as I saw the vent open.

My eyes faintly opened as I woke up. "Looks like he's awake" the nurse said.

"Alex?" I heard Toxic ask. I also heard footsteps as she came closer "just breath slowly, it's what worked with me"

I did as she said, and had soon recovered enough to speak "t-toxic?" I asked

I could faintly see her smile "good, you're awake. Al the others are still recovering, which is wired, considering your situation" she said, glancing at the nurse.

"Don't worry, your friends are in stable condition. It was amazing what they did for you though" the nurse said

"What did they do?" I asked, slowly regaining my strength

"You should have seen them Alex! the lever for the vents got stuck, so Muscles had to take over, then we found the vents were blocked, so Ariel went up to it to unblock it. Just as the room cleared, Rocky knocked down the door, which is what alerted the rest of the school. The others passed out shortly after you did, and I barely made it to see a bunch of people rushing in." Toxic said "teamwork definitely works, especially with humans"

Well, I was certainly impressed with them, though I was still upset at Daisy and Ariel for wrestling in the first place. Then I remembered the Methane wasn't even supposed to be there. Heck, the school didn't even keep Methane in stock "how did the Methane get there?" I asked

"The teacher doesn't know, but if what you said about the other events is true, then someone is definitely trying to get rid of us" Toxic replied.

If my mind weren't so fogy, I would probably have realized the same thing. "Let him rest, he needs recovery time" the nurse said, shooing Toxic out.

I dozed off for a bit, and when I woke up, I heard Aqua outside "come on! I want to make sure he's ok!" I heard her say

"He's sleeping right now, he's still recovering from yesterday" I heard her say.

Yesterday? I looked at the clock and saw it was morning "come on, I can't just check on him?" I heard her beg

"Fine" the nurse said, knocking "come in" I called weakly.

The moment the door was open, Aqua ran in and hugged me "thank goodness you're ok!" she said

"Careful, he's still weak" the nurse said "she insisted on seeing you, sorry"

"It's fine" I said smiling. After a bit of talking, the nurse was able to convince Aqua to leave, but said I had to stay until Sunday. My first thought was the machine, so I asked the nurse to call home.

"You're stuck for the week?" May asked over the phone

"Yea, would you mind telling me when the machine goes into its last phase, or if something goes wrong?" I asked her

"Of course I will, bye" she said, then immediately hung up. She was like that a lot.

I had told her about the machine since she was my twin, and I might have needed a backup. The rest of the week was boring, I mostly rested. Then I got to go home Sunday night, when I immediately crawled into bed.

**Another chapter done! Because I'm out of ideas, I'm going to end the story shortly, but I'm going to try to write another one, though it won't be a sequel. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I love input. Bye for now!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 22: the enemy discovered

I hadn't gotten much sleep because of nightmares, and I didn't get much sleep this time. The nightmares had gotten really bad, but the few scenes left were clear. They consisted of several different enemies that I could be up against, though none of them made sense.

I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to check on my machine, which was going to lock onto the targets soon.

I thought about what the alternatives could be. Maybe there was a way to transport only the enemy once I found him. Maybe the pikmin could do something. I didn't know, but I didn't want to abort now.

I made a remote to activate the feature, as well as putting a safety lock, so that I wouldn't press it accidentally, and an alert system, so that I would know when it was ready.

The pikmin got dressed with no problem, and went upstairs. I had been teaching the pikmin how to use utensils, and for the first time since they had woken up, they ate cereal without spilling a drop of milk on themselves. It would be a shame to have wasted all that effort on them, just to have them be turned back into a pikmin.

If I couldn't figure out who, or what, the enemy was, then I would have to activate the return home feature. I wonder how the pikmins friends would react. It was obvious most of them had a special attraction to the pikmin, so they would probably be heartbroken. The worst part is going to be making up an excuse to the teachers. How was I supposed to explain the sudden disappearance of 7 students to all of the teachers? I could say they moved away suddenly, but where could I say they moved to?

The bus ride was loud with talk about what the pikmin had done, and it seemed Jet wasn't interested in Aqua anymore, but I'm sure she either didn't mind or didn't care. Most of the talk was in awe of how they seemed to be able to do amazing things with little harm to themselves. Many thought the former pikmin were super humans, others thought they had a lot of technology that no one could see. I found most of the theories amusing, considering I knew the truth.

Cooking class was mostly normal, we were cooking steak so that we didn't start any fires. The only thing out of the ordinary was that about half way through, the pikmin started messing up, even Flame. They told me they felt something weird, and it was distracting. I dismissed it, thinking they were over reacting.

There was a video being presented in electronics. Because of my lack of sleep, I dozed off. My dream consisted of a grayish void all around me, with voices echoing. Most of them were saying things like "danger" or "enemy." Some were saying emotions like "fear or "despair." Most of the voices were hard to understand, but they got clearer and clearer. Finally, I heard two voices clearly, they were Star and Starlets. I faintly saw their outline, but they had told me it was against dream rules to visit me unless it was night time, so why were they here?

"He's near" Star said. I knew he was talking about the enemy, but I didn't know how that was important enough to tell me.

"Alex, run!" I heard Starlet say, right before I woke up to a loud alarm and the shaking ground.

Everyone panicked, even the teacher, and I ran out, the former pikmin close behind. The earthquakes came in bursts, like footsteps. I noticed Max at the end of a dead end hallway. Even after years of going to that school, I still had no idea why that hallway was there.

"Max, what are you doing? You have to get out of here" I said. I may not have known him very well, but no one should be left in the way of danger.

He slowly turned a menacing grin on his face "why should I? I'm right where I want to be" he said

"Max, there's something dangerous coming, you seriously need to leave" I said. The shaking was getting stronger.

"No, YOU should have left, and I'm not talking about a few minutes ago" he said

"What are you talking about?" I asked

"You tried to get rid of me, but you won't get the chance!" he said

At this point, I was completely confused "what are you talking about?" I asked

His grin widened "you haven't figured it out?" he asked mockingly

"Figured what out? That you're half crazy?" I asked. The quakes were really strong now

"No, something else" he said. He removed his hat, revealing green hair

"You're a pikmin?" I asked, surprised

He let out a laugh "those weak creatures? Hah! As if! No, I'm much worse" he said.

"Then what are you?" I asked. Now the quakes seemed to be coming from right near by

"You know, it was tricky finding you. There are so many Alex's that I could choose from, and multiple that fit the description I was looking for." He said, changing the subject

"You were looking for me?" I asked, trying hard to keep my balance

"Yea, I've been looking for you since the second week of school, when I actually got to school" he said "in fact, I'm surprised you didn't realize something was wrong sooner"

"What are you talking about?" I asked

"You were smart trying to hide it as long as possible, but when I felt the tingling sensation, I knew exactly who I was targeting" he said, still avoiding my questions

"Are you a friend?" I asked, running out of ideas

"A friend? No, I'm not a friend" he paused dramatically, at which point the back wall collapsed, showing a large robotic Emperor Bulbax, who let out a loud roar "I'm the Emperor Bulbax"

**BAM! Never saw THAT coming, did you? As you can tell, I'm really excited about this, and the ending. More than likely the next chapter will be the finale, so be ready! Remember: I love criticism and reviews encourage me. Bye for now!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I own neither pikmin nor its characters**

Chapter 23: the final battle

Ok, recap time. In electronics class, I dozed off and got a message from Star and Starlet, right before an alarm went off. While evacuating the school, I saw Max in a dead-end hallway. He revealed himself as the Emperor Bulbax, and now I'm face with a giant robotic replica that tore down the back wall, and the human form.

"How did you get here?" I asked, amazed.

"Your so naive Alex, I'm amazed you made it this far." He said with a smirk.

"That doesn't explain anything" I said

"Might as well give you your last request" he said "it wasn't hard figuring out how to confuse your machine, especially when the goolix let me use his frequency. It took a bit to get through your machines safety system, but I did it. I was in a small room when I woke up, and I didn't really remember a lot. A man came in and helped me get used to my new body, and gave me the name Max. I remembered who I was pretty quickly, but I needed a way to get to you. The man told me about school, and I figured that was the best way to get to you. I also heard of several other people with green hair, like mine, that had waken up in the hospital. So to find you, I got the hat, which would cover my hair. I didn't know who you were until I had felt the tingling sensation, which is when I realized you were trying to send me back."

"Wow…but, why?" I asked

"You think it's the parasite, don't you? He asked "you cure the parasite, and I was happy you did too. The goolix was the first to have a problem with you. Olimar was just trying to survive, we all knew that, it was you that we didn't like. When the part crashed down, I was fully prepared to just keep it nearby, and when he thought he had to attack me, I was going to pick it up and give it to him. It would be the symbol that we didn't want to hurt him, and he would get a whole new, wondrous perspective of us. But you had gotten to him first, and he would never let you go. That's why I wanted you dead. If Olimar had come in instead of you, I would have had to get the part to him somehow, but with you, I had my accomplishment. And now, I'm done talking" he snapped his finger and the robotic Emperor Bulbax charged.

I knew I couldn't fight it, and I was fully ready to be destroyed, but the pikmin came to me rescue. Right as it was about to make contact, Rocky slammed into it "you'll have to go through us first!" he said

"Who's us?" the Emperor asked, not seeing anyone else. Just then, the remaining 6 came in, but there was a difference in each of them, and it was clear.

Rocky should have been thrown back by the impact, but he wasn't. each of the former pikmin were different now: Flame had fire dancing on his fingertips, Daisy had sparks running through her body, Aqua had water covering her hands, Muscles had rippling muscles, I could see the poison coursing through Toxic's veins, Rocky had a duller skin that looked rougher, and Ariel, who was probably the most impressive, was hovering on mechanical wings.

"You want a fight, you'll get a fight" he said, whistling. The Robot charged again, but this time the pikmin met him and started fighting. I was so distracted by them I didn't see the human formed Emperor Tackle me.

We rolled back and forth, each trying to find a weakness in the other. I won't bore you with details, but I finally got him pinned down. I glanced over and saw the pikmin shut off the robot "it's over Emperor" I said.

"You're sadly mistaken, Alex" he said back

"I pined you and your robots defeated, why try to deny it?" I asked

"You defeated me in the pikmin world, you've defeated me here in the human world, but there are countless other worlds, and I'll get you in one of them" he said.

Before I could reply, he lurched up, throwing me into the wall, and I passed out.

I woke up in the hospital. As I focused my eyes, I saw Aqua looking at me "yay! You're up!" she said excitedly. "It was a miracle I got the paramedics to you before it was too late. The others were like 'he's done this a thousand times, he'll be fine' but I knew the Emperor had broken several of your bones, so I went and got them myself."

"You did that for me?" I asked. I paused, thinking about everything she's done for me "why?"

"Well, I'm not just going to let you die" she said

"No, I mean why do you help me so much? Why do you, a shy girl who runs from so many situations, go out of your way to help me?" I asked. I was a bit harsh on her, but she knew it was true. Many times she hid behind me when there was a large enemy. But any time I was on the verge of death, she risked her life to save me.

I expected a clear answer, or at least an awkward explanation, but she kissed me instead "because I love you" she said.

I had no idea what to say to that, but everything she did became clear. The nurse saved me from a reaction when she told Aqua to let me rest.

After I thought about, I realized I loved her too, which explained why I was so happy to be around her. After telling her this, and then asking how she knew what love is, she explained that she had gotten the meaning from listening to me talk to the captains throughout my pikmin journey. When I asked how she knew kissing me was a show of affection, she told me she had talked with some of the other kids about it, saying she had grown up homeschooled in a remote area, I decided not to question how she knew what homeschooling was.

Later on, the pikmin missed their friends and wanted to go back, but I told them I couldn't send them. Instead, I modified a virtual reality set I had so that it would make a copy of them in the pikmin world, and they could be there whenever they wanted.

I was still curious about what the Emperor had said about multiple worlds, and I began to study my machine for answers, but I knew it would be hard finding them. The Emperor had said something during the fight I had forgotten to mention. I had pinned him down, and was telling him how could easily kill him then (the adrenaline got to me). He replied "even if you killed me, there's others that you would have to deal with" before he rolled us back into our death roll. So, I had a machine to study, 7 super powered friends, one of which was now my girlfriend (it took a while to explain the concept of Dating to her), and I had an unknown entity coming for me sometime in the future. Well, it wasn't normal, but it was better than nothing, after all, it was the return home.

**Not bad for an ending, huh? I had a lot of loose ends to tie, so I had to rush the end a bit, but I did it! As of right now, I don't know what my next story will be, so I don't have a title yet. Remember: I love criticism and reviews encourage me. Also, I mentioned this in my profile, but if there's an idea you have, and you want to see how I build a story around it, then P.M. me and I'll see what I can do. Any genre is fine, just don't be surprised if I get characters wrong. See you later!**


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